[excerpt:]
Local food safety activists have apparently successfully led efforts to defeat a proposed new state law that would prevent other counties from following the lead of Mendocino County on genetically-modified (GM) farm crop regulation...

Mendocino became the first county in the United States to restrict the growing of genetically-modified organisms. Currently, there are three additional California counties and nearly 100 towns in New England which restrict the growing of GMOs, said Britt Bailey, director of Environmental Commons in Gualala.

"...the bill puts the state in the nonsensical position of preempting local authority and declaring that it occupies the entire field on an issue - genetically modified crops - for which there is not one law or regulation on the books..." Bailey said...

"The agricultural industry has been pushing state bills like this across the country to preempt local municipalities from having local control over food safety," said Toni Rizzo of Fort Bragg, a supporter of the Mendocino County GMO ban.

"It's another way that corporate money is used to stifle the democratic process and take away our right to control the quality of the food and environment in our communities..."

The full article is available on the Beacon website.

See also: Attempt to strip local authority over seeds and plants fails in California legislature.