On March 2, 2004, Mendocino County, California, became the first county in the U.S. to ban the production of genetically engineered crops and animals. Mendocino residents voted for the GE ban despite massive spending by the biotech industry ($700,000) and a non-stop barrage of misleading advertising and disinformation.
But now the Mendocino ban and future similar bans are under heavy attack. The Organic Consumers Union reports that the biotech lobby is spearheading an effort to introduce a bill in the California Senate that will nullify the Mendocino GMO ban and make it illegal for other California counties to pass similar laws. “Legislative leaders under the sway of corporate agribusiness and the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, apparently feel they must stamp out BioDemocracy in California before it spreads any further,” OCA said. OCA and its allies are organizing a major campaign to stop or defeat this legislation.