GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
BERKELEY, Ca. (April 2, 2008) - A total ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and cloned animals, and the implementation of "Green Chemistry" will be among the platform planks to be debated here at the Green Party of California State Convention April 5-6.
One-hundred delegates representing Green Party counties throughout the state will attend the two-day convention Saturday and Sunday, to be held at Dwinelle Hall at the University of California, Berkeley.
Green Party candidates for state, federal and local offices are expected to be on hand, including several running for Board of Supervisors in nearby San Francisco, and candidates on the ballot in Bay Area congressional districts.
The ban on GMOs and cloned animals would expand the current GPCA Platform, not only banning GMOs and cloned animal production, but also mandating labeling of the products if they are legalized, requiring the USDA to alert counties if GMOs are being used in their areas, informing neighboring farmers and holding the source biotechnology corporation accountable for any "genetic pollution."
Greens will also create a new platform plank dealing with "Green Chemistry," which is the design and use of "chemicals, processes and products that are safer for human and environmental health (to prevent) hazardous exposures."
"Industry relies on government corporate socialism via the public trough whenever major safety and health problems occur, with legal settlements far outnumbering completed legal cases. This...would end if the source corporations were responsible for the "cradle to grave" fate of chemicals and their products rather than governments and the public," according to the proposal before the GPCA convention.
In another key proposal, Greens will consider expanded rights for the disabled, and their families...and guarantee members of the disabled community their basic civil rights, including but not limited to the right to marry, right to parenthood, right to education, right to vote, right to access to the court system, the right to competent legal representation and the right to appropriate accommodation in private and government owned prisons and jails.
-30-
Contacts:
Dr. Bob Vizzard (Sacramento),
916.206.8953,
Susan King (San Francisco),
415.823.5524,
Crescenzo Vellucci, Press Secretary,
916.996.1970,
The Green Party of California
PO Box 2828
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
Web: http://www.cagreens.org
EMail: