Congress moves Dark Act a step closer to reality — with media’s help
It’s the greatest attack in a generation on your right to decide what you put into your body.
And it’s one step closer to becoming law.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed by a vote of 275-150 the so-called Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act.
I’ve been telling you for months how the bill — which has been dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act — would keep you from ever knowing which foods are genetically modified (GMOs).
Including GMOs that are covered in Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup that’s been linked to cancer.
Monsanto and its biotech friends are buying up airtime… and politicians… to ram the DARK Act through Congress. And we might have just weeks — and one last chance — to stop this threat to our freedom and our health from ending up on Obama’s desk.
He’s the sponsor of the DARK Act, and he calls labeling GMO Frankenfoods something that only “a handful of activists” are asking for.
But surveys have shown for years now that more than 90 percent of American citizens want GMOs labeled.
And 64 countries around the world already require it.
But when corporate-backed politicians like Pompeo forced the DARK Act through the House, they were standing up for GMO giants like Monsanto that threw their weight behind the bill, instead of citizens like us.
As I’ve told you before, the DARK Act would practically guarantee there will never be a federal GMO labeling program. It would kill existing labeling laws in states like Vermont, and even keep those states from protecting non-GMO farmers from contamination by GMO crops and seeds.
Even worse, the DARK Act would allow GMO products to be labeled as “natural,” even though the seeds were practically created in a lab.
If this isn’t an early, billion-dollar Christmas present to Monsanto and the other biotech giants — the same companies that have spent a fortune to kill GMO labeling in states around the country — I don’t know what is.
“If Monsanto is so proud of its product, then why on earth is it waging an all-out war to hide it from families who simply want to know what’s in their food?” Vermont Rep. Peter Welch asked in the Burlington Free-Press. “The message to consumers in this bill is very clear: It’s none of your business.”
Welch was just one of the 150 members of the House who stood up to corporate interests — and maybe even risked their political futures — to vote against the DARK Act.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers said the bill “speaks to the overwhelming power of these corporate lobbyists over the public interest” and called the DARK Act “a potentially serious threat to our long-term health.”
But while the House vote may have been a setback for American consumers… and for common sense… there’s still time for us to stop the DARK Act in its tracks.
To do that, we’re going to have to make some noise. And here are three ways you can get started. Check out this list of House members who voted for the DARK Act. If you see your rep on the list, make sure you voice your disappointment and remind him that you vote.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and explain why this bill may be good for billion-dollar corporations, but it’s bad news for citizens like us. And if your paper hasn’t been covering the issue… and lots haven’t…ask why.
Write your Senators today and demand that they vote “no” on the DARK Act. The Senate is heading into recess after next week, but you can bet they’ll be taking up this legislation before the end of summer. And if we don’t stop the DARK Act in the Senate, you know we can’t count on Obama to stand up for us and veto it.
As Vermont Governor, Peter Shumlin, put it “[They] may have the money, but we have the people. And the people always win.”
So let’s go win this one.
Sources:
“Shumlin: People will prevail in food fight” July 23, 2015, Burlington Free Press, burlingtonfreepress.com
“US House passes federal GMO food labeling bill that would strip existing state mandates” Lydia Wheeler and Cristina Marcos, July 24, 2015, The Hill, thehill.com
