On July 1, Vermont implemented a law requiring disclosure labels on all food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients, also known as genetically modified organisms or GMOs.
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch,
hailed the law as "the first law enacted in the U.S. that would provide clear labels identifying food made with genetically engineered ingredients. Indeed, stores across the country are already stocking food with clear on-package labels thanks to the Vermont law, because it's much easier for a company to provide GMO labels on all of the products in its supply chain than just the ones going to one state."
What that means is that the Vermont labeling law is changing the landscape of our grocery stores, and making it easier than ever to know which products contain GMOs.
And less than a week later after that law went into effect, that Vermont law is under full-out attack.
Monsanto and their bought-and-paid-for toadies in Congress are pushing very legislation to override Vermont's law. Democrats who oppose this effort call the Stabenow/Roberts legislation the "Deny Americans the Right to Know" Act, or DARK Act.
This isn't the first time that a DARK Act has been brought forward in the Senate, and one version of the bill was already shot down earlier this year.
The most recent version of the bill was brought forward by Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts, both of whom have received substantial contributions from BigAg.
Stabenow has received over $600,000 in campaign contributions since 2011 from the Crop Production and Basic Processing Industry, and Pat Roberts has received over $600,000 from the Agricultural Services and Products industry.
When Senator Stabenow unveiled the industry-friendly legislation, she boasted that, "For the first time ever, consumers will have a national, mandatory label for food products that contain genetically modified ingredients."
Which sounds great, and it would be great, if it were true.
But the fact is, the DARK Act would set up a system of voluntary labeling that would overturn Vermont's labeling law and replace it with a law that's riddled with so many loopholes and exemptions that it would only apply to a very few products, and there's no enforcement mechanism and no penalties or consequences of any kind for defying the bill. It also allows for labeling GMO-containing foods to be "labeled" with a QR code, those black squares that can only be read by your smartphone or computer. That lets manufacturers say, "We labeled it!" but prevents all but the most tech-savvy consumers from figuring out what the code means.
