is h one one two we've been working on this with a coalition of organizations including roll rural vermont andrea standard who will see exactly the director is here with us this chat and cedar circle farm will ellen is with us representing cedar circle farm another member of the coalition as we've heard of one public interest research group and we're also helping the set of the clinic mall school so what we're here to talk about is this bill h one one two its current status what we're trying to get done here it's spent we were in the middle of february what we're trying to get the bill and need to get done before the legislature  those couple years and we'll read it right at the moment sure well i think that certain facts my own history with the issue most recently which is this coalition that you just described the vermont right to know coalition came together in actually december of two thousand and eleven will and several other people brought this issue to all of us and the goal it was for and in two thousand and twelve we we worked a bill partly through the  process we only got through the house a committee that year but a lot of testimony was taken a lot of work was done and the foundation was laid but that was the second year of the legislative by any and so we ran out of time the bill died and then we came session literally in the last few days of the session the house passed the gym a labeling bill by a very strong vote of ninety nine to forty two and that session ended and then we started again this january literally right out of the box on this very second day of the legislative session the senate agriculture committee took up the bill they took several weeks of testimony and just last week after a huge public hearing at the state house on this and so i think it's important for people who write letters and it's important not just to send e mails and make phone calls a letter really makes a difference i think that the vermonters that testified at the hearing  week ago thursday testify very clearly like about seventy five percent of that they don't want to be bullied around by the grocery manufacturers association or monsanto they feel like the stat seventy percent of the people want this bill and the will is absolutely right that what this brought this campaign to the point where it is now and what will bring it all the way to victory is no let up a continual brumby of conversations requests the phone calls the letters from the public to their legislators because they were the hard reality is that our legislators their citizen legislators they don't have staff they don't have offices there are ton of pieces of legislation that they're dealing with and although there are some of the in the statehouse who are very well informed on this issue many of them are not and the best way to inform them is for them to hear from their constituents and so every single person who can talk to their senator you could talk to their even their house members because they're going to be involved again to make sure that they understand what the bill is about that the bill will require a label in the food sold in vermont that contains genetically engineered components or has been genetically engineered itself and that's really all the bills about it is a bill that would give people the ability to know when they choose what food they want to consume  food they're going to buy whether or not they are in fact consuming genetically engineered food and that's really simple it's very straightforward and that message needs to be delivered again and in because most of the people who are opposing the bill are trying to make it much more complicated they're bringing in lots of things that are really relevant and the stronger the messages from constituents to their legislators that this is a simple bill that will protect the well being of vermonters then legislators can begin to see that this is their responsibility and it will be easier for them to see whether a choices well and then i think the important thing is if you have a personal relationship with a senator or a legislator use that personal relationship right now if you good time at the state office and that look it's it's a place where you're welcome i mean there's no metal detectors or anything else you can go right into the cafeteria where the senators and legislators are are eating lunch and have lunch with them and you can make an appointment to meet with them and will be happy to help in any person who would wish to come to the state house and feel might feel the an easy about doing it or how the way that that happened if you just get in touch with anyone with a remote right to know love to do the will commercial which is if you want to get involved in this campaign to compare if you care about this issue and anyone who eats should care about this issue go to the government right to know g m o's website and sign the petition that you support the bill especially if you're a food producer or a small business or a farmer restaurant a chef we're we have a long list of people who are supporting the campaign we'd love to have more people on that list and there's a ton of resources on our website we can learn more about the issue we can help you with great letters to the editor we can help you with connecting with you much just letters and as dave said we're more than happy to help people who want to come to the state house and talk to the legislator directly and that kind of public involvement public conversation with legislators and ultimately public pressure on the legislators to pass this bill is what is going make it happen so we've done a lot of good work to this point to moving this bill through the house through the senate  agriculture committee we've had expert testimony from scientists from researchers here at the university and elsewhere we've demonstrated the strength of this bill its legitimacy it bill if we if we go to court with this bill it will stand up to constitutional muster and so we just need to deliver these messages plainly and repeatedly to our representatives and basically give them the understanding but also the courage to move forward with this and what they need is to hear from their with their constituents on this with their expression of support and their sort of a request that th representatives support we have over thirty thousand people who yeah i suggested your staying in nursing the bill we have over two hundred businesses farms the food producers of one sort or another so far who have a doris the bill  and as you mentioned dave the university of vermont has been doing polling on this issue for quite a number of years and the very most recent poll they did was just last winter on the annual vermonter poll and they found again over ninety percent of our mothers want to see genetically engineered foods labeled and over seventy percent of vermonters support this bill and they actually know that this bill exists and that this is the bill that will bring this labeling in vermont and  we have the opportunity to be the first state to pass a bill with a date certain when labeling will begin and i think that would be a huge step forward not only for moderates but for everybody who's is concerned about what the it's time and sixty four other countries already passed labeling bills sold so like we're first to the game at least we can be first in this country an excellent way for people in different communities around the mark to plug into this campaign come together with others who are working showings we have a series of trainings for consumers at a local co ops around the state and all of these events you can find information about all these events on the screen