Stop GM Alfalfa bumper stickers available at WWA Activism
Many of you will be aware of the ongoing "Stop GM Alfalfa" campaign I'm working on in an effort to raise public awareness and political opposition to genetically modified alfalfa.
This campaign actively supports a moratorium in Canada and the United States on the sale, planting, and growth of GM alfalfa. This campaign also supports independent, long-term animal feeding trials of GM alfalfa, unaffiliated with and unfunded by GMOs corporation like Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, and others.
Monsanto's genetically modified RoundUp Ready alfalfa was unconditionally approved for commercial sale and growth by the pro-GMO Obama Administration in January 2011. GM alfalfa has been planted in the United States for the past three seasons. This decision is still highly contentious, and lawsuits attempting to stop GM alfalfa are ongoing in the U.S.
Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics is now planning to sell RoundUp Ready alfalfa for the first time in Canada amidst major protest. It is making its way through the last steps required for commercial sale in this country and could get the green light from the pro-GMO Harper government at any time.
Alfalfa is a feral perennial plant. This means it grows and spreads like a weed, and it grows back year-after-year without re-planting. In fact, if you don't want alfalfa in your field, it can be very difficult to eradicate.
Alfalfa is pollinated by insects like bees and by the wind. As bees and wind do not respect provincial or national borders, genetically modified material can be spread far beyond the area in which it is initially planted.
Monsanto and the rest of the GMO/chemical corporations are trying to make GM alfalfa the first ever feral perennial planted in Canada.
GM alfalfa, if released in Canada, will contaminate the natural crop. There is no doubt about that on the part of farmers or educated citizens. You can read a recent report written by the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network on the impossibility of co-existence with this GM crop here: "The Canadian Seed Trade Association’s so-called “Coexistence Plan” is a gateway to GM alfalfa contamination"
Alfalfa is used primarily as livestock feed. It is used as a natural, nitrogen-fixing fertilizer in organic agriculture, and it is also used as the transition crop when farms move from conventional to organic.
If genetically modified alfalfa contaminates the natural crop, the current markets for Canadian alfalfa-based products (particularly European) will be lost. Livestock and human health may be harmed by this untested, experimental crop. And the entire foundation for organic agriculture could be destroyed.
The stakes are high. Now is the time to get vocal and active on this issue if you feel it in your heart and soul to do so.
I've launched a WWA Activism section of the Willow's Web Astrology blog. The primary campaign at this time, due to its immediate relevance, is the campaign to stop GM alfalfa.
If anyone would like to get involved with GM alfalfa activism in his or her local area, please contact me at willowsweb [at] hushmail.com, and I can help you with some basics.
You can also voice your opposition to GM alfalfa in a very easy, simple, and effective way with a Stop GM Alfalfa bumper sticker.
There are three versions available: "Stop GM Alfalfa in Canada: Say 'no' to Franken-hay" (for Canadians), "Stop GM Alfalfa: Say 'no' to Franken-hay," and "Stop GM Alfalfa."
Stickers are $5 each or five stickers for $22. Shipping is $3.00 for orders in Canada and the U.S. Please contact me with international orders, as shipping rates may be higher.
Bumper sticker orders can be placed through the WWA Activism button at the top of the main page. Contact me if you would like to pay by a method other than PayPal.
The bumper stickers are printed at a local, independently-owned, small-town printing shop.
Please provide your full mailing address, and allow three weeks for shipping.
We can stop this. I wouldn't be pouring the coal to this issue if I believed otherwise.
Thanks for your help in this effort.
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