Short but rocky history

Think the referendum process needs to be made more difficult? Consider the short but rocky history of LD 1266, An Act to Protect Against Contamination of Crops and Wild Plant Populations by Genetically Engineered (GE) Plants.

This bill’s purpose is to protect farmers who are not planting GE crops from contamination by cross pollination of GE crops. It requires the GE seed companies (the largest is Monsanto, the folks who brought us DDT) to provide written planting instructions, including an ample buffer zone, to prevent contamination. The bill also holds them liable for any damages to neighboring crops.

This is a critical protection for farmers because non-GE crops fetch a higher price and are welcomed in overseas markets, unlike GE crops. The case of Canadian Percy Schmeiser, a 70-year-old farmer who has always saved his seed to replant, adds to the urgency of this bill. Monsanto claims that because he knew his own seed had been contaminated with their patented life form, he should not have replanted. He has been fined in the neighborhood of $10,000.

LD 1266 was heard by the Agriculture Committee on March 29. I was present for the hearing, attended by approximately 140 people, overwhelmingly in support of this bill. As a private citizen with legitimate concerns about the unlabeled and untested technology that has invaded 70 percent of our food supply, I was heartened to witness our representative form of government when LD1266 received, at the April 12 work session, a unanimous “ought to pass,” from the Agriculture Committee. There was no opposition from Cheryl Timberlake, lobbyist for the Biotechnology Association of Maine.

“Perhaps the system really does work,” I thought. I went back to my busy life, satisfied that my days taken off from work had not been wasted. Guess what? When news of the bill got to Monsanto headquarters in St. Louis, they fired up their big guns. They got Rep. Paul Tessier, D-Fairfield, and the American Crop Protection Organization, a national lobbying group for Monsanto, to pressure 8 of 14 Agriculture Committee members to withdraw support unless the bill was modified to corporate specifications.

On April 27, Monsanto’s lawyers huddled in the State House hallway with industry lobbyists. During a marathon five hour negotiation with the bill’s authors, Sharon Tisher and Russell Libby of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, (MOFGA) industry lobbyists and lawyers periodically whipped out their cell phones to call headquarters for instructions to rewrite Maine law. A compromise was reached. Sharon Tisher, president of MOFGA, conceded, “It’s not all that we asked for but it takes an important and necessary first step toward ensuring that manufacturers address the problem of cross contamination, and that growers are aware of the problem and are instructed in how to prevent it.”

As I witnessed the wrangling by corporate lawyers and lobbyists in Augusta, I grew nauseated. I went outside to a picnic table and bawled my eyes out. I felt as though my heart was breaking. I realized I was grieving for the loss of our democracy. When I finally got through it I sat quietly for a while, watching two biotech lobbyists on the steps of our State House chatting on their cell phones.

As a member of Maine Right to Know (MRTK), a group of citizens dedicated to educating the public about GE food, I had put a lot of my heart and soul, along with my limited resources, into GE legislative efforts. I thought of the hard work over the last year and a half to get the word out. I thought of the immense task of coordinating our volunteers to collect 49,101 registered Maine voters’ signatures, organized properly by town. I thought of the $10 T-shirts proclaiming “Demand a Label!” that MRTK has sold at summer fairs as part of our fund-raising efforts.

In the face of what seemed like the crushing financial resources of transnational biotech giants, whose allegiance is only to their bottom line, I felt like giving up. But it was a glorious spring day. I got up from that fork in the road and went back inside the State House with a renewed commitment to MRTK.

Think our form of representative government is sufficient to represent the people of Maine? Think the referendum process needs to be made more difficult? Think twice.

Lori Connor lives in Deer Isle.