GMO Labeling Just Got Real
I just called my Senator. Up until now, I’ve been more interested in social media action, but the stakes are so high today that I had to take all steps possible. You see, tomorrow the Senate will decide whether or not to pass S. 2609–also known as the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” or DARK Act. After the House of Representatives passed it last year, the Senate is our last line of defense. The DARK Act would make it illegal for states to require GMO labeling and would override GMO labeling bills already in place–regardless of the fact that 94% of Americans want GMO labeling. Luckily, the Senate also has another bill on the table.
In contrast to the DARK Act, which takes away states’ rights, S. 2621 would ensure a national GMO labeling standard. Tell your Senator which you support! S. 2621, better known as the Biotechnology Food Labeling and Uniformity Act would put in place a national standard that requires labeling for GMO foods. Which do you want to see the Senate pass?
Thought so.
With this in mind, please join me in taking the following steps to let your Senator know how you feel.
- Call 1-877-796-1949, a hotline set up by Food & Water Watch, and follow the prompts to call your Senator and ask him or her to support GMO labeling and vote vote no on S. 2609. It’s super-easy–just put in your zip code and the automated system will do the rest.
- Next, click here to find out who represents you in the Senate and search Twitter to find his or her handle.
- Finally, tweet this: Hey, [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLE HERE] #StopTheDARKAct! Vote NO on S.2609 & in favor of Americans & you’ll keep my vote!
- If you tag me @RachelLSarnoff, I promise to retweet. Let’s get this party started!
Because as Colin O’Neil of the Center for Food Safety so aptly put it at ShiftCon, “Monsanto has bought and sold the House, but they haven’t bought and sold the minds of the American people.”
Did you call or tweet? Please tell me about it, in comments below. Thanks!
4 Comments
Sandy
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for taking action against the DARK act. It was anti-health and anti-freedom. The replacement bill, S.2621, is only better by comparison to the DARK act. That’s like saying that neonicotinoid pesticides are better than DDT. Perhaps, but they still kill off our food pollinators.
You write, “In contrast to the DARK Act, which takes away states’ rights, S. 2621 would ensure a national GMO labeling standard. Tell your Senator which you support!” The unstated falsehood is that we must support one or the other of these two bad bills. If we care about our health and our children’s future, we should oppose BOTH bills. S.2621 would ALSO take away states’ rights to protect people from GMO, DNA-damaging poison products. The DARK act is dead, or at least temporarily disabled, but with all the GMO labeling activists supporting the Trojan Horse S.2621, our future is nevertheless DARK.
The bill exempts GMO ingredients in processed foods which amount to less than 9/10 of 1% by weight – EACH – which means that a processed food could contain several GMO ingredients, each of which was kept just below the trigger-point at which labeling would be required. If a product contained several GMO ingredients, then it could contain several percent GMO ingredients by weight and still be in total compliance with this flawed bill. WORSE, just like the DARK act, it claims federal pre-emption over States’ Rights to protect their own populations against poisoning and destruction.
Further, the bill exempts foods which were flooded with GMO vaccines. This means that CAFO animals could be shot full of poisons just before slaughter and processing. ALL the toxic vaccine ingredients would still be in the meat and other animal products, yet we would not know this because this bill exempts GMO vaccine-contaminated animal products from having to be labeled as such.
The icing on Monsanto’s cake is the exemption of all GMO “processing aids” – yeast is specified as an example – from labeling. So, if the bill is passed, ALL the foods which now use GMO-derived yeast (and who knows what other “processing aids”) will get off Scot-free. We will be deceived, by write of Federal law, and will have NO rights to protect ourselves further with stronger local or state laws.
IF there must be a one-size-fits-all federal mandate for GMO labeling, it MUST be one which will actually label ALL GMO-tainted products. ALL of them. Anything less will continue to hurt our non-GMO farmers and food producers because their products are being shunned in foreign markets because of the lack of clear, HONEST GMO labeling laws here in the USA.
S.2621 would not help honest yet struggling farmers or small food producers; nor would it properly inform 98% of those who care to read labels. It is ineffective at best, and a cynical “solution” within the problem-reaction-solution modus operandi of the current regime.
Rachel Sarnoff
This is great information to know, thank you so much for sharing! I am going to keep on this, and read all the notes that are provided by great organizations like Food & Water Watch (which provided info for this post), among others. I really appreciate you sharing such a detailed analysis. Thank you!
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Brigit R
Hi Rachel, I called my senators here in Nyc and am handwriting and, tweeting them. This cannot be. American cannot allow it! We have the right to know what is in our foods and the right for transparency!