View source for No on 37

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The '''No on 37: Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme''' (No on 37), formerly known as Californians Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition (CACFLP), is an advocacy group that opposes [[California's Proposition 37 of 2012]] (Prop 37), the 2012 ballot initiative to require [[Genetically Engineered Food Labeling|mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods]]. The group calls itself “a coalition of family farmers, grocers, small businesses, and food producers.”<ref>Californians Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition, [http://noprop37.com/press/in-case-you-missed-it-nov-2012-ballot-measure-to-label-genetically-modified-foods-unmodified-unmitigated-and-unadulterated-turkey--2212012- In Case You Missed It: Nov. 2012 Ballot Measure To Label Genetically Modified Foods: 'Unmodified, Unmitigated and Unadulterated Turkey'], organizational press release, February 21, 2012</ref> But its membership list includes no individually named farmers, grocers, small business, or food producers It is, instead, a list primarily of trade groups for big corporate agriculture and food companies, as well as other front groups, local chambers of commerce, etc.<ref>CACFLP, [http://noprop37.com/page/who-we-are Who We Are], organizational member list, accessed July 2012</ref> An enormous percent of the group's money comes from the [["Big 6" Biotech Corporations]] ([[Monsanto]], [[Dow Chemical Company]], [[Syngenta]], [[Bayer]], [[Dupont]], and [[BASF]]) and biotechnology industry lobby groups. This handful of corporations dominates the world’s seed, pesticide and biotech industries<ref name="PANNAcartel">Pesticide Action Network of North America, [http://www.panna.org/issues/pesticides-profit/chemical-cartel Chemical Cartel], organizational website, accessed July 2012</ref><ref>ETC Group, [http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/etc_WhoOwnsNature.pdf Who Owns Nature? Corporate Power and the Final Frontier in the Commodification of Life], international civil society organizational report, November 2008, accessed July 2012</ref> and therefore demonstrably has a vested interest in preventing the labeling of GMOs, which could affect consumer perception and therefore profitability.

== No on 37's Positions and Statements ==
In June 2012 the No on 37 released an article, titled "Freakonomics, How California's GMO Labeling Law Could Limit Your Food Choices and Hurt the Poor" in an attempt to persuade voters that labeling food would cause, "food prices [to] rise and consumer choice [to] be diminished."<ref>Steve Sexton, [http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/newsitem.php?id=26 How California's GMO Labeling Law Could LImit Your Food Choices and Hurt the Poor], ''Stop Costly Food Labeling'', June 22, 2012 </ref>

According to a report by the [[Center for Food Safety]] on big food's PR front groups, No on 37’s most effective tactic was scaremongering about higher food costs, despite the lack of data to support such a claim other than one paid-for, non-peer reviewed report. Another scare tactic was making wild predictions about lawsuits and red tape. The No on 37 campaign also deployed shooting the messenger (plus scaremongering) by claiming Prop 37 was “written by a trial lawyer for trial lawyers,” which the report claims is untrue. No on 37 also hired several medical and scientific experts as spokespeople, in an effort to hide its economic interests. The idea, according to the report, was that voters are more likely to follow the advice of a doctor dressed in a white coat than the CEO of [[Monsanto]].<ref>Michele Simon, [http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/cfs_front_groups_79234.pdf The Best Public Relations That Money Can Buy], Center for Food Safety report, May 2013.</ref>

==PR Gunslinger Behind the No on 37 Campaign==

[[Thomas W. Hiltachk|Tom Hiltachk]] is one lobbyist that corporations in the No on 37 campaign have hired to make the anti-labeling case. Hiltachk is no stranger to front groups. With a little help from his friends at [[Philip Morris]] and [[R.J. Reynolds]], he helped organize the [[Californians for Smokers' Rights]] group to fight anti-smoking initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s. He also helped form the [[Californians for Fair Business Policy]] –- a so-called "grassroots" organization, but actually a front group to mobilize business opposition to anti-smoking initiatives. Hitachk also has ties to Big Oil, including a colorful history with California’s Proposition 23, a conservative-backed ballot initiative launched –- and defeated -– in 2010. The initiative, supported by Big Oil, would have repealed California’s clean energy and climate laws.<ref>Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins, [http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_cant_know_whats_in_your_food?page=entire Meet the Corporate Front Groups Fighting to Make Sure You Can't Know What's in Your Food], ''Alternet'', May 31, 2012.</ref> 

==Major Funders==

The group's largest funders, which together contributed nearly $27 million by September 2012, were biotechnology and food corporations and industry lobby groups. As of September 6, 2012, major funders to the group included:<ref>[http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1344135&session=2011 California Secretary of State], Accessed September 6, 2012.</ref>

Over $1 million:
* [[Monsanto]]: $4,208,000
* [[DuPont]]: $4,025,200
* [[PepsiCo, Inc.]]: $1,716,300
* [[BASF]]: $1,642,300
* [[Bayer CropScience]]: $1,618,400
* [[Dow AgroSciences LLC]]: $1,184,800
* [[Nestle USA, Inc.]]: $1,169,400
* [[Coca Cola North America]]: $1,164,400
* [[Conagra Foods]]: $1,076,700

$500,000 to $999,999:
* [[General Mills, Inc.]]: $908,200
* [[Syngenta]]: $821,300
* [[Del Monte Foods Company]]: $674,100
* [[Kellogg Company]]: $632,500

$250,000 to $499,999:
* [[Hershey Company]]: $395,100
* [[The J.M. Smucker Company]]: $388,000
* [[Council for Biotechnology Information]]: $375,000
* [[Grocery Manufacturers Association]]: $375,000
* [[Hormel Foods Corporation]]: $374.300
* [[Bumble Bee Foods, LLC]]: $368,500
* [[Sara Lee Corporation]]: $343,600
* [[Bimbo Bakeries USA]]: $338,300
* [[Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.]]: $282,100
* [[Pinnacle Foods Group LLC]]: $266,100
* [[Dean Foods Company]]: $253,950
* [[Biotechnology Industry Organization]]: $250,000
* [[Campbell Soup Company]]: $250,000

$100,000 to $249,999:
* [[McCormick & Company, Inc.]]: $248,200
* [[Rich Products Corporation]]: $225,537.15
* [[Cargill, Inc.]]: $202,229.36
* [[Dole Packaged Foods Company]]: $171,261.61
* [[Knouse Foods Cooperative, Inc.]]: $131,409.01
* [[WM Wrigley Jr. Company]]: $116,865.91
* [[Mars, Incorporated]]: $105,976.68

$50,000 to $99,999:
* [[Sunny Delight Beverages Company]]: $93,795.9
* [[Land O'Lakes, Inc.]]: $80,835.48
* [[Hero North America]]: $79,073.93
* [[Solae, LLC]]: $59,214.59
* [[McCain Foods USA, Inc.]]: $50,592.94

$10,000 to $49,999:
* [[Godiva Chocolatier, Inc.]]: $41,787.83
* [[Kraft Foods Global, Inc.]]: $34,404.88
* [[C.H. Guenther & Son, Inc.]]: $23,401.61
* [[Morton Salt]]: $20,275.07
* [[Smithfield Foods, Inc.]]: $14,286.28
* [[Reily Foods Company]]: $13,214.52
* [[Inventure Foods, Inc.]]: $10,846.39
* [[H.J. Heinz Company]]: $10,444.71

$1000 to $9999:
* [[Indahoan Foods, LLC]]: $7181.81
* [[Bunge North America, Inc.]]: $5193.11
* [[CropLife America]]: $5000
* [[Abbott Nutrition]]: $3918.86
* [[House Autry Mills, Inc.]]: $1077.27

==Contact Details==

* 1121 L Street #803<br>
* Sacramento, CA 95814<br>
* Web: http://www.noprop37.com

==Articles and Resources==

===Related SourceWatch Articles===

* [[California's Proposition 37 of 2012]]
* [[Genetically Engineered Food Labeling]]
* [[Yes on 37 For Your Right to Know if Your Food Has Been Genetically Engineered]]
* [[GMOs]]

===References===
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[[Category:Agriculture]][[Category:Genetically Modified Organisms]][[Category:Genetic engineering]][[Category:Food Rights Network]][[Category:Front groups]]
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