…or the seeds or the plants…because of preemptive legislation stripping local control and regulatory authority over agriculture and the food supply. Some of these laws aren’t limited to plants used in agruculture, but remove local control over all plants, including trees.
These sweeping industry-backed laws are being passed in response to movements by concerned communities and local authorities to limit the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Groups promoting Food Democracy are fighting to maintain local control of food supplies. The need for this is highlighted by the fact that as of July 2005, industry-backed seed and plant preemption legislation had been passed or proposed in 16 states including California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida.
The Center for Food Safety provides a downloadable toolkit: Fighting Preemptive Legislation in Your State and The Environmental Commons keeps track of preemption legislation updates at the 2006 Food Control Legislation Tracker.
- Read more about of what Environmental Commons has to say about Food Democracy
- Read Jim Hightower’s take on preemptive legislation: Stealing Local Democratic Authority
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