Katrina, one year later.Mendocino County, California Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of 2000, the population was 86,265. The county seat is Ukiah. In 2004, citizens of Mendocino County, California, became the first in the country to pass an ordinance prohibiting the growing of genetically engineered genetically engineered adjective Recombinant, see there crops. Two neighboring counties and two cities followed suit, prompting a stealthily stealth·y adj. stealth·i·er, stealth·i·est Marked by or acting with quiet, caution, and secrecy intended to avoid notice. See Synonyms at secret. orchestrated counterattack Attacking an attacker. Even though a criminal hacker or other agent is attempting to penetrate a security perimeter or damage systems, the counterattack must not violate applicable laws. . Six months after passage of the Mendocino ordinance, state legislatures began introducing seed preemption preemption U.S. policy that allowed the first settlers, or squatters, on public land to buy the land they had improved. Since improved land, coveted by speculators, was often priced too high for squatters to buy at auction, temporary preemptive laws allowed them to acquire bills prohibiting local communities from banning or regulating genetically engineered crops. State legislatures swiftly passed similarly worded bills without public awareness, according to Britt Bailey, director of the nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. Environmental Commons. "Most people are quite surprised when they hear these bills are being introduced," Bailey says. They can't understand why "local government can't regulate food grown in their political boundaries." To date, fifteen states have passed seed preemption bills. California was poised to become the sixteenth this summer, but the legislative session ended August 31 with the bill still sitting in committee. The seed preemption bill initially sought to overturn the five California bans on genetically engineered crops. Due to heavy opposition, the bill was amended to grandfather in all ordinances and local regulations passed before July 1, 2006. Chris Homer, spokesperson for Monsanto, the leading biotech company, denies that the behind this or any other seed preemption bills. "There's this idea we're involved," he says. "We're not. Are we supportive of making sure farmers have the right to use the seed they want to use? Yes. Farmers want the right to use these seeds without worrying about local regulations, especially when there's no scientific basis behind the local regulations." |
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