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Proposed S. 2609 by Roberts & Stabenow: Voluntary labeling discriminates against anyone  on the wrong side of the Digital Divide Moderator’s Note:  I want to make it clear: This is an Environmental Justice and Social Justice issue.  The Senate is considering passage of the latest version of the notorious DARK (Deny a Right to Know) Act, a.k.a. S. 2609 and found here . This legislation is NOT a mandatory labeling law nor is it designed to work in an equitable manner. For example, the proposed legislation exploits the “Digital Divide” by using a system in which consumers must scan a “QR Code” (like that pictured directly above) on the product with a smartphone or similar device. The scan will then allow the consumer to visit a website with whatever misleading information is found in the self-regulating corporate digital ether. Only 68 percent of Americans own smartphones and this is the Digital Divide we need to emphasize in our statements of opposition ( Center for Foo...

Illustration courtesy of Earth First! Moderator’s Note: When we last reported on the situation with GMOs in the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán, there were many reasons to celebrate since a federal judge had overturned the approval of GMO soy plantings in this region as a threat to the indigenous beekeepers of the region (see our posts of March 16 2014 and July 24, 2014 ). Those rulings profoundly recognized Mayan indigenous autonomy. As quoted in our report of March 2014: According to press reports…(Mar 11, 2014) the court “determined that the effective protection of indigenous rights requires the exercise of certain human rights of a procedural nature, mainly the access to information, participation in decision-making and access to ensure justice.”  You would think this was a clear victory. It apparently is not. This is, after all, Mexico, a place where the state of economic exception remains just as brutal and anti-indigenous as always. Here is t...