The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/tag/tara-cook-littman/)
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Thursday he will continue to fight federal preemption of state GMO-labeling laws and plans to introduce legislation to repeal it in the next session. Such legislation would face an uphill fight in Congress. Continue Reading →
Big food’s surrender to tiny Vermont on the issue of labeling foods produced with genetically modified organisms is prompting activists to make a late-session push to amend Connecticut’s labeling law. Continue Reading →
Updated at 1:25 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The Senate blocked a bill Wednesday that would set national voluntary labeling standards for genetically modified foods and bar states like Connecticut from setting their own rules. Continue Reading →
No one quite captured the zeitgeist at the State Capitol last year like Tara Cook-Littman. The founder of GMO Free CT used social media to rally foodies, environmentalists and consumer activists behind a successful crusade to require the labeling of genetically modified foods. Now, she wants to try public policy from the inside — as a legislator. Continue Reading →
GMO Free CT, the grass-roots group that used social media to unexpectedly win a Connecticut labeling law for genetically modified foods this year, is going national – backed by the sale of an organic smoothie drink about to go on sale at Whole Foods. The new effort is a byproduct of the movement’s success and its failure: It overcame significant opposition to win passage of a first-of-its-kind law in June, but the measure will not take effect unless triggered by action in other states. Four other Northeast states, including one that must border Connecticut, with an aggregate population of 20 million, require GMO labeling before labels are required here. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy did not want the state to impose a labeling rule alone. “Our job in Connecticut is not complete until our bill goes into effect,” said Tara Littman-Cook of Fairfield, the founder of GMO Free CT. Continue Reading →
With a deal that revives a bill requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods, Connecticut’s legislative leaders Saturday acknowledged a movement that has muscled its way from the scientific fringe to political mainstream. Senate and House leaders announced a bipartisan compromise that is expected to make Connecticut the first state to require labeling of foods with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. It passed the Senate unanimously with little debate and was sent to the House, where the leadership promises final passage before the adjournment deadline of midnight Wednesday. A week ago, the measure appeared dead. Then a grass-roots group, GMO Free CT, used social media to focus the movement’s ire on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, whom activists deemed responsible for the apparent defeat. Continue Reading →