Prop.
37 is in dead heat amid ad blitz [Los Angeles Times]
Once
riding high, Proposition 37, the statewide ballot measure to label genetically
engineered foods, has seen its voter support plummet during the last month, and
a new poll shows the high-stakes battle now is a dead heat. After a barrage of
negative television advertisements financed by a $41-million opposition war
chest, a USC Dornsife / Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday showed 44% of surveyed
voters backing the initiative and 42% opposing it. A substantial slice of the
electorate, 14%, remains undecided or unwilling to take a position. The
critical drumbeat of television advertising is having a big effect, voters
said. The anti-Proposition 37 spots "made me start looking more into"
the issue of genetically engineered plants, said Josie Prendez, 63, a retired
school employee in Fresno. She said she concluded that farmers should not be
hit with more regulations.
Scientists
defend safety of genetically modified foods [Los Angeles Times]
To
the naked eye, the white puffs of cotton growing on shrubs, the yellow flowers
on canola plants and the towering tassels on cornstalks look just like those on
any other plants. But inside their cells, where their DNA contains instructions
for how these crops should grow, there are a few genes that were put there not
by Mother Nature but by scientists in a lab.…To an increasingly vocal group of
consumers, this genetic tinkering is a major source of anxiety.…In California,
this unease has culminated in Proposition 37.…But among scientists, there is
widespread agreement that such crops aren't dangerous.…Genetically engineered
crops have been extensively studied. Hundreds of papers in academic journals
have scrutinized data on the health and environmental impacts of the plants. So
have several in-depth analyses by independent panels convened by the National
Academy of Sciences.
Lawmakers'
food, farming votes tracked [San Francisco Chronicle]
Food
and environmental activists unveiled a new "scorecard" for Congress
on Wednesday that will track members' votes on food and farming issues in an
attempt to give a political voice to the food movement that spread from the Bay
Area to become a national force to counter industrial agriculture. The
scorecard by Food Policy Action monitors votes on issues including organic and
local farming, food safety, humane treatment of animals, farm conservation and
environmental programs, sustainability, ethanol, school lunches, food stamps,
obesity, hunger, genetically modified organisms and conditions for
farmworkers.…Established by Environmental Working Group, a critic of crop subsidies,
Food Policy Action has a liberal cast. Antitax groups that have often aligned
with the food movement to oppose farm subsidies are not participating. Also
excluded are the big commodity and grower interests, as the new group intends
to counter the political power of industrial farming interests.
El
Dorado County joins lawsuit opposing fire fee for rural properties [Sacramento
Bee]
El
Dorado County is joining the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association lawsuit
seeking to block the state's $150-a-year fire fee on rural properties….The El
Dorado County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 16 unanimously agreed to join the
lawsuit. "Hundreds of residents have contacted the county to voice their
frustration about the fire tax," Supervisor John Knight said in a
statement about the vote. "The Board of Supervisors can't sit idly by
while the state is running a legalized extortion scheme on rural
residents."…El Dorado County, which owns a number of parcels with
habitable structures, also has paid the fee....Applegarth said the county paid,
but did so under protest.
Yuba
County farmer faces misdemeanor manslaughter charge [Marysville
Appeal-Democrat]
A
farmer is facing a misdemeanor manslaughter charge in connection with the death
last year of a farmworker in a Marysville rice field. A probable cause
statement filed this week in Yuba County Superior Court said Mark P. Dewsnup
failed to take basic safety precautions on Oct. 20, 2011, before fixing a
broken tractor which caused it to roll over his employee, Rene Rodriguez
Gutierrez….Investigators said Dewsnup failed to stop the engine, cut power and
left the transmission engaged before servicing a broken throttle cable on a
tractor. He is also accused of failing to ensure Gutierrez was clear of the
machinery before pulling the accelerator throttle cable, which caused
Gutierrez's death, according to investigators.
Editorial: Full, open
discussion urged at Modesto Irrigation District [Modesto Bee]
…The
Bee is a big supporter of agriculture and farming. We supported the county's
right-to-farm ordinance and in land use issues typically side with the
preservation of farmland and allowing appropriate ag-related use of land. We
fully recognize the depth, breadth and importance of the ag economy in our
county. But valuing agriculture doesn't mean that electrical customers should
continue shouldering a sizable share of cost of providing irrigation water to
farmers. What the public needs — and deserves — is a full and open discussion
of this issue. There are legitimate arguments that the community as a whole
benefits from the agriculture industry and from the groundwater replenishment
that occurs with farm irrigation. Those arguments should be on the table.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
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