Ayers writes: "Big Ag monies might have broken State of Oregon records for pouring the most amount of money into a state initiative, but Oregonians have held their own in the highly charged vote on GMO labeling (Measure 92)."
(photo: Friends Eat)
Oregon’s GMO Labeling Defeated? Not So Fast! Results Not In
06 November 14
ig Ag monies might have broken State of Oregon records for pouring the most amount of money into a state initiative, but Oregonians have held their own in the highly charged vote on GMO labeling (Measure 92). This morning, with pending results showing a 50.61% No to 49.39% Yes, the Oregonian Newspaper decided to call the outcome as a win for the No votes.
Eric Sample, spokesman for the Multnomah County Elections Division, said, “I don’t know why The Oregonian would call this vote as a win for the No GMO Labeling. We are still counting 33,000 more ballots in our county, along with additional ballots from other counties, and will not be finished until early evening. These are mail-in ballots, and require extensive verification of signatures, etc.”
Multnomah County has been shown to have close to 70% voters in favor of GMO labeling. Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist with the Consumers Union, stated today, “It is such a close vote that the State of Oregon could demand a recount. Multnomah County is the one county in Oregon that can make the GMO labeling campaign win, and why is it taking so long to get the results? Are there election monitors there? It seems fishy.”
With the extremely tight margin between Yes and No on this initiative, a premature call by The Oregonian on this vote might not be serving the public interest. Major news organizations are taking the call as a done deal. Multinational companies like Monsanto, DuPont, and Pepsi contributed over $19 million to defeat this GMO labeling initiative, and the grassroots organizers in Oregon are still very focused on the true outcome of the highly sensitive votes of Multnomah County.
David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Soaps, donated $1 million for the ‘right to know’ aspect of GMO labeling. Tom Hormel, heir to Hormel Foods Corp., added another $500,000 for labeling GMOs, which countered the company’s contribution of $350,000 against labeling.
Dr. Hansen of the Consumer’s Union also said today, “It is curious to me why Monsanto dropped another $1.5 million on the last day. We are watching these last ballots being counted as very significant, and we don’t buy that the vote can be called one way or the other yet.”
Though the Multnomah elections spokesman Eric Samples stated they would update their results two times on Wednesday afternoon, the numbers cited all day were never changed, even though the site showed that updates supposedly occurred.
Jane Ayers is an independent journalist (USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, etc.), and is a regular contributor to Reader Supported News. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit her website.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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