You may or may not have heard about Measure H, to be voted on Tuesday in Mendocino County, California...
From KCRA:
People across the country will be watching what happens in California's Mendocino County on Election Day, where voters are considering a proposal to ban the growing of all genetically modified crops.
Measure H is a local initiative that calls for everything from grape to pears to sheep and salmon to be grown in the county without any scientific tinkering of their genes.
It's shaping up to be an expensive battle...
From Truth about Trade:
In typical corporate fashion, the biotech industry is running a well-financed, centrally controlled PR campaign to defeat Measure H. As of Feb. 20, CropLife America - the trade association for agricultural chemical and biotech companies - had poured $300,000 into the Mendocino County. That's roughly $7 per voter. The money has been spent on public opinion polling, an intensive radio advertising campaign, public relations consultants, legal advice, and a mailer to all voters. In command-and-control style the biotech industry has anointed "designated spokesmen" to talk to the media.
Mendocino anti-biotech activists have far fewer financial resources, are structured differently, and have numbers of their side. They have collected approximately $67,000 from an estimated 1,400 contributors. The largest donation, $24,000, came from the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a Washington, DC-based activist group. According to its web site, the CFS "works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the proliferation of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS engages in legal, scientific and grassroots initiatives to guide national and international policymaking on critical food safety issues."
You'd think the Center for Food Safety would have more information available on their site about H, but I didn't see any.
Anyone have any idea how this will do tomorrow? Mendocino County has that "old hippie" reputation, but what's the real outlook for this measure passing?
