Guest viewpoint
Town-to-Town Campaign on Genetic Engineering to Contest Big Biotech at Massachusetts Town Meetings
by Ben Grosscup, NOFA/Mass Town-to-town campaign organizer

In recent years, towns in Massachusetts and across New England have been passing resolutions to oppose agricultural genetic engineering. In 2006, NOFA/Mass will continue this effort. These town-based initiatives have come largely in response to the failure of federal and state agencies to regulate genetically modified crops. The success rate of these efforts has been impressive: Since 2002, 11 towns in Massachusetts have passed resolutions against genetic engineering and since 2000, some 83 towns in Vermont have done the same. Just last year, towns in Maine have begun similar kinds of initiatives.

In Vermont, these grassroots organizing initiatives have already affected the state legislative scene. In 2004, Vermont passed a new seed labeling law and in this year's legislative session, a farmer liability protection bill is being debated. While these efforts are not enough to fully deal with the problem of genetic engineering, they are steps toward protecting farmers. Town resolutions help by sending a powerful political message statewide and countrywide that is backed up with moral authority that surpasses biotechnology industry lobbyists. In addition to encouraging legislative victories, town resolution initiatives open a space for citizens to have a direct say in the future of our food supply. By acting through town meetings citizens are invigorating a long-treasured tradition of local face-to-face direct democracy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is charged with regulating genetically engineered food at the federal level, has utterly failed to protect the public from the unknown consequences of this technology. The FDA has proclaimed that corporations marketing genetically engineered foods can “voluntarily” label their products, providing no clear way for people to avoid this untested food. And while scientific studies are increasingly highlighting how genetically engineered crops pose dangers of genetic contamination, regulations are entirely inadequate for sequestering the genetically-engineered crops that are being grown in test plots and commercial fields across the country. The result of this disastrously unregulated technology has been staggeringly wide-scale genetic contamination of non-GMO crops.

Huge multinational seed corporations like Monsanto concern themselves with how to turn a profit for their shareholders. But at town meeting, we have an opportunity to speak to each other as neighbors concerned about the well-being of everyone in our communities and the integrity of our environment. More than any other political institution available to us, town meeting provides citizens with a way to speak directly with each other and work on solutions to major problems that confront us. Town by town, we can show the biotech companies, federal and state legislators and regulators, and the world that our communities say "no!" to genetically engineered crops. We want a safe and ecological agriculture that supports family farmers -- not multinational seed giants.

Since 2002 the towns of Buckland, Gill, Heath, Leverett, Wendell, Northfield, Ashfield, Plainfield, Windsor, Chesterfield, and Worthington have all passed resolutions opposing genetic engineering. While the resolutions that have already passed have set important precedents, the citizens of each town have jurisdiction to decide what language to use for town resolutions. The decisions that each town makes will reflect the diversity of views in that town. Resolutions passed so far include language stating that genetically engineered (GE) foods have been shown to cause long-term damage to the environment, the integrity of rural, family farm economies, and can have serious impacts on human health. Most resolutions called upon state legislators and the state’s congressional delegation to support labeling GE foods and seeds, as well as a moratorium on the growing of GE crops until they are adequately tested.

Our aim is to organize town committees to do the following tasks:
1) draft one or more resolutions to be voted on at the annual town meeting
2) collect the necessary signatures (usually 10) required for the resolution to be put on the town meeting warrant
3) to educate local townspeople about the issue of genetically modified foods so that when the meeting comes, there is a group prepared to speak in favor of the resolution.

We want to include the concerns of local farmers that are opposed to genetic engineering precisely because multinational seed corporations are trying to take control of the food supply away from farmers. They have sued farmers simply for the fact that genetically modified pollen has drifted onto their land, and they have promoted seeds that require annual seed purchases -- making seed saving impossible. We need to take steps to protect our agricultural communities, and our food supply and to foster alternatives to the industrial agricultural system that they promote.

I have been hired as the NOFA/Mass organizer for this 2006 campaign. I invite you to help with this effort, deepen your understanding of these issues and educate others by getting in touch with me at ben.grosscup@nofamass.org or call my cell 413-658-5374.