Brandon Turbeville
June 29, 2016
On Tuesday June 23rd, it was reported that the Senate’s Agriculture Committee had reached a deal on GMO food labeling and what is essentially a slightly modified version of what clean food proponents have labeled the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know Act).
Senators, corporations and the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association are hailing the bill as the victory for the art of compromise. While labeling proponents and otherwise thinking Americans realize that the bill is nothing more than an attempt to prevent them from actually knowing what they’re eating as well as an attempt to prevent states from making that information available to them.
Vermont’s own GMO labeling law comes into effect on July 1st but the Senate’s new bill would preempt that law and other state laws that would require food producers to simply inform consumers of the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Many national food companies have already begun adding simple, on-package GMO labels, many of them doing so in order to comply with the Vermont law proving that labeling can be achieved without economic collapse, mass starvation and the implosion of the universe.
The new bill, however, will reaffirm the alleged and disproven “scientific consensus” that GMOs are safe and allow food companies to avoid any mention of the process of genetic engineering on food packaging. GMO ingredients may be disclosed through digital codes and smart phone apps as well as phone numbers as opposed to on-package language. It would nullify the Vermont law and other laws similar to it and provide exemptions for food manufacturers that are considered very small, a designation exploited by major agricultural companies on a daily basis.
The law also allows for the USDA to determine the amount of GMOs that might be present in food before it is considered a bioengineered food. Foods that have egg products, poultry and meat as main ingredients will be exempted. There are no federal penalties provided for violation of the labeling requirements.
On Tuesday June 23rd, it was reported that the Senate’s Agriculture Committee had reached a deal on GMO food labeling and what is essentially a slightly modified version of what clean food proponents have labeled the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know Act).
Senators, corporations and the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association are hailing the bill as the victory for the art of compromise. While labeling proponents and otherwise thinking Americans realize that the bill is nothing more than an attempt to prevent them from actually knowing what they’re eating as well as an attempt to prevent states from making that information available to them.
Vermont’s own GMO labeling law comes into effect on July 1st but the Senate’s new bill would preempt that law and other state laws that would require food producers to simply inform consumers of the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Many national food companies have already begun adding simple, on-package GMO labels, many of them doing so in order to comply with the Vermont law proving that labeling can be achieved without economic collapse, mass starvation and the implosion of the universe.
The new bill, however, will reaffirm the alleged and disproven “scientific consensus” that GMOs are safe and allow food companies to avoid any mention of the process of genetic engineering on food packaging. GMO ingredients may be disclosed through digital codes and smart phone apps as well as phone numbers as opposed to on-package language. It would nullify the Vermont law and other laws similar to it and provide exemptions for food manufacturers that are considered very small, a designation exploited by major agricultural companies on a daily basis.
The law also allows for the USDA to determine the amount of GMOs that might be present in food before it is considered a bioengineered food. Foods that have egg products, poultry and meat as main ingredients will be exempted. There are no federal penalties provided for violation of the labeling requirements.
