Assemblymember Jared Huffman will be holding a press conference announcing the introduction of an Assembly bill to address the issue of genetic engineering in agriculture. This bill seeks to protect farmers and the food supply in the following ways:

(1) Establishes the right of farmers to compensation if they lose markets due to genetic contamination of their crops;

(2) Protects farmers from liability if they unknowingly plant or grow contaminated crops;

(3) Establishes a genetic engineering (GE) crop registration process so that non-GE farmers can reduce the chance of crop contamination;

(4) Protects the food supply by prohibiting the open-field cultivation of drug-producing food crops.

Date: Wednesday February 21, 2007

Time: 10:00 — 10:45 am

Location: State Capitol, Room 1190