Fake GMO labeling bill signed by Obama

Revised DARK Act gets Obama’s signature – but won’t go unchallenged

It was a Christmas-in-July present to Monsanto — one that the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) calls a “slap in the face” to 90 percent of Americans who want GMO labeling.

I’m talking about the Stabenow-Roberts bill (S-764), which Obama signed into law at the end of July.

It’s nothing more than a revised version of the DARK Act (for Deny Americans the Right to Know) originally passed by the House last summer.

And it’s designed to make sure you never know whether the food you’re eating is GMO.

The GMO industry is working overtime, trying to convince us that the new law will allow for labeling.

But this legislation contains a dark secret you weren’t supposed to know about. And it’s clear that it’s only purpose was to kill state GMO labeling laws before they ever went into effect.

The mark of Monsanto

If you want to know who benefits from S-764 the most, just follow the money.

Over $400 million poured in from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and member companies as well as Monsanto itself.

So if you were a bit skeptical when you saw all those headlines that claimed the law provides for GMO labeling, well, you were right.

S-764 is an absolute joke that doesn’t require a single food in your supermarket to be labeled as GMO. Instead, the foods will carry a high-tech QR code that you scan with your phone to see if a product has been genetically modified.

That’s, of course, if you have a smartphone… if you have a QR code app… and if you’re inclined to scan every single food before you put it in your cart.

In other words, this is something that absolutely nobody will ever use. And you’d better believe the Feds know that.

Our government is so unsure that this law will be usable for average people that they actually commissioned the USDA to do a study on how many of us have smartphones.

So here’s the billion-dollar question. Why on Earth would our government pass a law without even knowing whether it could be successfully rolled out?

Well, unfortunately, the answer to that is easy. The Feds were in a hurry to pass the law, because it trumps (and essentially eliminates) more common-sense state legislation that would have provided real GMO labeling.

The GMO industry was desperate to stop laws in places like Vermont, where clear GMO language would have appeared right on food labels. No smartphone required.

And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, the FDA itself has commented that the way S-764 is written may make it difficult for foods that now contain GMOs to actually meet the requirement for the smartphone labeling to begin with.

So how did this new version of the DARK Act manage to get passed by the Senate after a previous rendition had been rejected last March?

Experts blame “backroom dealing between a few senators and industrial food and biotech companies.

The OCA says that it’s proof “that our Democracy is broken” and “lawmakers answer to corporate America, not to us.”

But this may not be the end of the effort to bring GMO labeling to America. At least two organizations, The Center for Food Safety and Food Democracy Now! are reportedly planning to go to court to challenge the legality of S-764.

And the OCA is calling for a good old-fashioned boycott.

The group is asking consumers not to purchase any products that will bear the “Mark of Monsanto” — those “SmartLabel” or QR codes and only support companies that respect our right to know what’s in the food we’re eating.

You can also look for another kind of labeling, one that says “Non-GMO Project Verified.” That’s the only independent, third party non-GMO labeling you’ll find in North America.

Over 2,700 brands have already signed up the service, been verified and placed the “Non-GMO Project” label on over 36,000 products.

They also have a search tool for certified products on their website you can find here.

Sources:
“Obama signs disastrous fraudulent GMO ‘labeling’ bill — here’s how it happened” Max Goldberg, August 3, 2016, The Food Revolution Network” foodrevolution.org