No GMO Labeling for USA

On Friday July 29, 2016 President Obama signed S. 764 aka the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act into law. True mandatory GMO labeling (ie: words on the package) has become a thing of the past. This law preempts Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law as well as laws which were passed in Connecticut, Maine, and Alaska. It also preempts seed labeling laws which had been passed by several states. It is full of loopholes and exemptions that would exempt newer genetic engineering technologies such as Synthetic Biology, CRISPR/cas9, gene editing, and gene cassettes.

The White House wrote: “The legislation provides flexibility for companies to choose from the following options:

• A text statement or symbol directly on the food packaging itself indicating bioengineered ingredients,
• A digital QR (Quick Response) code that customers can scan with their smartphone if they want to learn about bioengineered ingredients,
• Smaller companies could also offer a phone number or URL on the package that consumers can access for more info.”

With these options, do you really think any food company will choose to print a literal GMO text statement on a product? Seriously, who even uses QR codes?

How ironic is it that our first African American president has passed what is probably the most discriminatory piece of legislation in recent times. The law, which will not take effect for 2 years, will allow companies to use QR codes which require smart phones and data plans in order to access information on corporate websites. The law discriminates against low income Americans, minorities, busy parents, the elderly, handicapped, and rural Americans with no cell phone service.

Currently 64 countries around the world require labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs). Unlike most other developed countries – such as 28 (uh, now 27) nations in the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia and even China – the USA has no laws requiring labeling of genetically modified foods.

The Washington Post (and other mainstream news sources) have reported that President Obama signed into law a bill that will give us mandatory GMO labeling, when nothing could be farther from the truth. The bill reflects the level of undue corporate influence over our government as well as the corruption that has taken away our democratic rights.

So what’s the big deal? There are no long-term studies that show dangers of GMO consumption. There are no long-term studies that show the safety either. There are no long-term studies period of GMOs that entered the food supply only 40 years ago. We are the GMO scientific guinea pigs. However glyphosate (aka Round Up herbicide) has been determined to be a carcinogen. GMOs are made to withstand the spraying of glyphosate so nearly every GMO food item consumed comes with a film of carcinogenic glyphosate.

This is how other countries label their GMOs by legal mandate:

gmo-label

Many multinational companies who sell products in America already label the very same GMO products for other requiring countries.

What can you do to protect yourself until this mess can be reversed? Buy organic food when it is available and affordable. The ORGANIC label and the NON GMO PROJECT label are the only recourse in knowing that we are not consuming GMOs. By definition GMOs are not organically produced. “Organic” means that the food was grown without the use of prohibited pesticides, genetic engineering, synthetic fertilizers, or irradiation.