Senate robs Americans of GMO labeling by passing remodeled DARK Act
It’s being called “highway robbery, Monsanto style.”
At the end of last week, 63 U.S. Senators voted for the Roberts-Stabenow Act — a fake “labeling” bill that will keep you guessing about which foods in the supermarket are GMOs.
It was a happy day for the biotech bullies that are out to rule our food supply. And it’s now made another big step towards Obama’s desk.
As I told you at the end of June, this zombie version of the DARK Act is a giant hand-out to Big Food and companies like Monsanto.
And the clock is ticking away towards it becoming the law of the land.
When the DARK Act (for Deny Americans the Right to Know) was defeated three months ago, I knew it was just a matter of time before it resurfaced in another disguise.
And it did.
This time, however, it’s called the Roberts-Stabenow GMO labeling bill, proposed by Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan). That was what passed 63-30 under the dark of night last Thursday.
And perhaps one of the most scandalous parts of this food fight is how the mainstream media is covering it.
I’m talking about headlines that read: “Senate backs bill to label genetically modified food,” or “U.S. Senate passes GMO labeling bill,” (and that was the New York Times!).
But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the new pet name for this bill is “the labeling law without a label.”
That’s because this bill was designed to keep you from knowing which foods contain GMO ingredients.
For example:
- Any “labeling” of GMOs would be hidden behind an electronic bar code. To crack it, you would need a smart phone that’s set up with a code reader and an app to translate it all.
- No one from the USDA, or anywhere else for that matter, will be checking to see if a manufacturer is complying. But why should they, because it would all be on the honor system! That’s right, there would be no penalties for non-compliance and no enforcement.
- The bill would exempt corn and soy, the biggest GMO crops out there. That’s a loophole the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
In reality, this is nothing more than a scheme to derail Vermont’s GMO labeling, a real labeling law, which went into effect on the first of the month. I’m sure Big Food and Monsanto executives were practically having a meltdown when that was passed.
As I said, 63 U.S. Senators voted for this corporate ploy. But there were 30 who didn’t. Among them is Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who said that she “can’t support” a bill that allows voluntary labeling of genetically modified salmon.
Or Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who called it an “attack on consumers’ basic right to know what is in their food.”
But there were other big surprises — supporters of the bill that made for some very odd bedfellows.
They include the Environmental Working Group, the head of Whole Foods Market, and the yuppie CEO of Stonyfield Farm, which makes organic dairy products.
The Organic Consumers Association said that this group helped cut a “backroom deal” to smooth the way for the bill to pass.
The bill is now going back to the House, which last year passed its own version of the original DARK Act, and then straight to President Obama’s desk.
That means we still have some time (and not much) to stop it. Contact your House reps and tell them to oppose the Roberts-Stabenow bill.
Tell them we all deserve better than this massive handout to Big Food masquerading as a labeling bill.
Sources:
“Highway Robbery” Organic Bytes, Organic Consumers Association, July 8, 2016, organicconsumers.org
