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I'm curious as to how Joy (or any candidate for that matter) "...knows this has to be mandated at the federal level for it to be effective."
What would she, and other candidates that claim to support labeling, be willing to do on a local level to facilitate labeling?
As for voting for the GOP to teach the Dems a lesson, I'm sorry, but that is just about the most foolish thing I have ever heard of.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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KTA, Safeway, and other grocery stores have no way of demanding that food producers label foodstuffs a certain way. And why would they want to? It's not their kuleana, not their responsibility. And we're not just talking fresh produce here, we're talking about all food products.
Labeling as in the nutritional content of foods is a point of law on the federal level, by the FDA. And I'm fully cognizant of people who think you can't expect the feds to do anything as they've already been bought out by the chemical corporations, etc. Well, I've got news for you....Monsanto and the like have bought out state and local politicians all across the nation as well. And the courts are going to follow the law, which is FEDERAL law, in these suits being brought against Hawaii County, Vermont and any other entity that tries to site "home rule." (As Joy points out, home rule was the same argument Southern states cited to withdraw from the Union and start the Civil War in defense of slavery!)
Sure, the state legislature can pass a law regarding the labeling of GMO products. So who's gonna enforce it? The state Dept. of Ag can't even keep up w/inspecting shipments into and out of the islands....they have numerous laws on the books already about who can use pesticides and monitoring their proper use but the Dept. of Ag doesn't have enough employees to do that either. Just because you pass a law doesn't make it a reality. And look at all the people on PunaWeb who want less gov't!!!
So there are candidates who keep spouting off about how Joy is pro-GMO, which she definitely is not but she also understands law and their different levels. The US Constitution states that federal law takes precedence over state and other lower levels of government. Those candidates spread these lies about Joy because they're afraid she's going to win the race for State House Dist. 4 and they're trying to win the office themselves.
Joy has even said at political forums and elsewhere that she would vote for GMO labeling on the state level (to help create a groundswell on the federal level as is happening w/the marijuana states) but wouldn't expect that to be the definitive answer to the issue....that it still will have to be mandated on a federal level.
Why can't people do like we're doing and supporting these petitions being circulated by people like Michele Obama and Tulsi Gabbard demanding GMO labeling by the FDA, just like the FDA mandates caloric and nutritional content on labels? I'm writing to our Hawaii representative Gabbard to ask her to write and sponsor legislation just for that purpose. That isn't likely to happen in 2014, as we all know how the US House is being gridlocked by the GOP but it will be interesting to see the House's makeup after the Nov. elections.
Frankly, I prefer a candidate who thinks and can visualize more than one side of a story.
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"The US Constitution states that federal law takes precedence over state and other lower levels of government."
No so.
The aerial banner company flying over Oahu is a recent example. The 9th Court affirmed years ago that States/Counties/Municipalities have the right, in certain areas, to legislate and enforce laws that are not superseded by Federal law.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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The key to your comment, Anxious, is the superseded by federal law. There are federal laws that address this issue. But take heart, we're all working to the same end...
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Frankie, you made some good points then lost them. So Joy "understands the law" but the legislature & Governor of the state of Vermont, along with a dozen other states with courage, do not? I wish we were all working to the same end. Saying that does not make it true.
