To:  Signers of Tell Obama to Cease FDA Ties To Monsanto

From: Frederick Ravid, Petition author

Re: Where To From Here

Contact info@proorganic.org  facebook page: http://on.fb.me/FDAcleanup

This update includes several exciting announcements, so please read to the end.

We have much ahead of us and we’re doing everything we can to effectively move our work in the direction our signers deserve and can be proud of.  Our Petition “Tell Obama to Cease FDA Ties to Monsanto” got over 430,000 signatures in the past month. This brought press, scrutiny, and corresponding responsibility. I observed that we have the ability and the public support to do much more than merely create a petition. “Doing more” is not just repeating the success story of the Petition, it involves pushing well beyond the first press stories and reactions. It involves growing the base, stimulating, and providing people with effective tools.

People need to be more engaged in learning about what is in our food, about GMO, about where food comes from, about how it is produced, and about the effects and consequences. We need to learn how regulators consistently serve the agenda of centralized agribusiness and entrenched companies like Monsanto. The more educated people become the more likely we will be to drive national policy towards a safer, healthier, happier, and better outcome. We want everybody to realize that we really have no choice but to succeed. It’s really a matter of life and death. We must turn the tipping point away from food-centralization and plutocratic corruption of food regulation back towards healthy, safe, and sane food practices in our country. We strongly advocate the California Ballot Initiative for GMO Labeling as a key actionable element and ask everyone to do what they can to assure its success. But, there is MUCH more we’re doing.

By our sheer size, we quickly became the seed of one of the largest food policy advocacy organizations. We know we must build a solid organizational structure along with an effective internet presence in order to serve you. We created a web-design architecture specification to help volunteer web designers do their part. Our approach to planning is patient and for the long term. Meanwhile, we have built important alliances with other organizations who share our purpose and we are grateful for them. What lies before us is clear: We must inspire and channel the massive demand we as a country need to muster. We must transition the food issue from a passing public interest towards lasting policy change. We have to do this amid many comparably-transient election-year “issues,” “events,” and a host of other distractions.

We face extremely well-organized and well-funded opposition and detractors. Their comments about us make it clear that we are being taken seriously, as we should be.  As for the White House, the FDA and Monsanto, based on a variety of indicators, we are confident they are well aware of our position, but we have no reason to expect a warm reception from any of them. Consequently, we are not in a big hurry to “deliver” the petition only to get a form letter in response. We are in a hurry to inform, share, and spread our clear and optimistic vision for the kind of country we want to become in terms of food/regulatory policy. And make no mistake about it: That is a very different country than what we are heading towards becoming if we don’t take action now.

Several key resources are being created beyond what we’ve already accomplished on Facebook, etc. We’ve produced a Youtube, about to be released. Watch for our youtube premier announcement. This video clearly and simply explains the petition and its reason for being. We are about start Video Town Hall Meetings on Yowie.Com where unlimited numbers of people can interact via video. Watch for schedule announcements. We now have well over 100 volunteer writers, editors and graphic artists who will help put together a book on the Petition. We have received the backing of key scientists, researchers, attorneys, professionals, academics, and a host of individuals who are serious about food/regulatory integrity. They comprise our first volunteer Workgroups, who with effective technology support we’re creating, can interact no matter where they live and work. We are very grateful for all the enthusiastic involvement we’ve received. Ask to join our wordpress design team - we really need your help now! Email us info@proorganic.org with SUBJECT “Web Team”to volunteer.

The inspiring and vast outpouring of intense support clearly spells the need for a home. This includes an online presence that allows for everything from up-to-date & relevant news, streaming video, humor, workgroup areas, and even a wiki. It also includes the right kind of legal entity to make us strong and sustainable. If we intend to change our country’s inertial and corrupt food/regulatory policy we must make a long-term effort and that’s exactly what we’re pursuing. We are not in this to make a splash, we are here to make a wave and to change policy once and for all.  For so many vital reasons, we can’t stress how important it is that we all work together to bring this policy change into reality, now. And, once we achieve policy change, still more remains to be accomplished to insure its success.  All of these efforts take time, collaboration, and resources. We have worked thru many 20-hour days and we have come quite a way since the first week of internet virality.

Stay tuned and involved! Keep communicating to us via email and via our highly interactive Facebook Page which has >12,100 “Likes” and reaches tens of thousands of people daily, with over 4,125,000 friends of fans . Look forward to even better interactivity via our coming home site http://proorganic.org.  Email us info@proorganic.org with SUBJECT “Opening Day” and we’ll send an announcement when we go live. Expect us to help you stay involved with announcements including release of the upcoming youtube, our town hall events, and our organizational debut via our Facebook Page and http://proorganic.org.

Thank you for your commitment to food/regulatory integrity