GM(woes) | Urgent Time-Sensitive Call for Action on the DARK Act

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 Food Safety 2016). This also means the proposed legislation violates the Principles of Environmental Justice, which Stabenow has previously endorsed.



This is an act against
low-income communities and the democratic majority in the country with close to
90 percent favoring simple and prominent labeling of GMO ingredients directly
on the product label and ingredients as required under the Vermont law set to
go into effect on July 1. This proposed law is designed to pre-empt the Vermont
law.



Democratic Senator Debbie
Stabenow has betrayed our majority democratic values and should hear from my
readers and followers. If you are in the USA, contact Stabenow and your two U.S.
Senators immediately and ask for them to vote against S. 2609 – “An original
bill to amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Secretary
of Agriculture to establish a national voluntary labeling standard for
bioengineered foods, and for other purposes.”



Please note that the
proposed legislation is NOT supported by food sovereignty movements or the
broadest communities of NGOs, activists, farmers, and First Nations who support
the Vermont law as an example of the state of the art and science of effective,
equitable, and verifiable GMO labeling based on a democratic right to know what
is in the food we purchase and consume. It is also not enough to rely on the “USDA
Organic” label as a way to avoid GMOs as is recommended by the Organic Trade
Alliance (OTA). This also represents a race and class divide since low-income
consumers do not have equitable access to the organics market.



I am posting a letter (see
below) submitted by a coalition of groups, farmers, and other pro-labeling movement
activists to the U.S. Senate expressing complete opposition to the latest
desperate version of a proposed federal “labeling’ law. This flawed law would
nullify Vermont’s own more effective and equitable labeling statute.



The current Roberts-Stabinow
effort is led by corporate lobbyists and political elites who have joined the
Gene Giants and the Grocery Manufacturers Association in their opposition to
the Vermont labeling law set to go into effect this July 1. Part of the
challenge here is that our movement has been betrayed by the Organic Trade Alliance
(OTA) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which have endorsed the
Roberts-Stabenow bill. I urge a boycott of all producers associated with the
OTA like Stonybrook Farms The OTA is corporate organics and they are part of
the problem as confirmed by their ill-advised endorsement of the proposed legislation.



To sign a petition opposing the Roberts-Stabenow bill, go to:



http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=18370.



Please repost, share, and use this information in
your own email statements to U.S. Senators.



Do download the original, please
go to: 



http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/gmo-labeling-to-senateoppose62916_29341.pdf.



Letter of the food safety,
farm, environmental and consumer advocacy organizations and food corporations to
the U.S. Senate



June 27, 2016



United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510



Dear Senators,



Re: GMO Labeling Bill -
OPPOSE



On behalf of the
undersigned food safety, farm, environmental, and consumer advocacy
organizations and food corporations, and the millions of members we represent
across the United States, we strongly oppose the new Roberts / Stabenow
legislation on GMO food labeling. The process that created this legislation has
been profoundly undemocratic and a violation of basic legislative practice. The
bill addresses a critical issue for the American public, yet it was neither
subject to a single hearing nor any testimony whatsoever. Rather, the bill’s
preemption of the democratically decided-upon labeling laws of several states,
and seed laws of numerous states and municipalities, is the result of
non-transparent “bargaining” between two senators and industry interest groups.




As explained in more detail
below, we oppose the bill because it is actually a non-labeling bill under the
guise of a mandatory labeling bill. It exempts major portions of current and
future GMO foods from labeling; it is on its face discriminatory against low
income, rural and elderly populations; it is a gross violation of the
sovereignty of numerous states around the nation; and it provides no
enforcement against those who violate the law.

1.     NO MANDATORY STANDARDS – The Senate
bill itself prescribes no mandatory standards for GMO labeling. Rather, it
preempts the labeling laws of several states including Vermont, Connecticut,
Maine and Alaska based exclusively on a multi-year discretionary process
determined solely by an as of yet unknown, future USDA Secretary.

2.    A VAST NUMBER OF CURRENT AND FUTURE
GE FOODS WILL BE EXEMPT FROM ANY LABELING – Either intentionally, or through
poor drafting and lack of scientific expertise, the novel definition of
“bioengineering” under the bill would exclude from labeling a vast number of
current foods produced with genetic engineering, including those where the
“modification” is “found in nature,” those in which technology cannot as yet
detect the novel genetic material, and foods made with non in vitro recombinant
DNA techniques, such as new generations of food made with RNAi and so-called
“gene-editing” techniques. In fact, 99% of all GMO food COULD be exempt from
labeling as the bill leaves it entirely up to a future USDA Secretary to
determine what “amount” of GMO ingredients in a food qualifies it for labeling.
If that Secretary were to decide on a high percentage of GMO content, it would
exempt virtually all processed GMO foods which comprise more than 99% of all
GMO foods on the market.

3.    DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RURAL, LOW
INCOME AND ELDERLY POPULATIONS – The bill anticipates that GMO labeling will be
done primarily through QR codes (“digital” labeling). Because of their lack of
access to smart phones, more than 50% of rural and low income populations, and
more than 65% of the elderly, will have no access to these labels. This impact
will fall disproportionately on minority communities. Millions more that do
have smart phones may not be able to access these QR codes because they cannot
afford to maintain their data service or their neighborhoods do not have
adequate network coverage. The study of the efficacy of QR codes outlined in
the bill is to take place significantly AFTER any labeling is established and
in the marketplace. The results of such a study, if any, may take many years to
clarify and codify. Such a “study” provision is clearly not sufficient to
absolve the bill of an unconstitutional discriminatory impact.

4.    VIOLATION OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY BY
SPECIFICALLY PREEMPTING GMO SEED LAWS AND POTENTIALLY NUMEROUS OTHER LAWS AND
REGULATIONS – The bill not only preempts state food labeling laws, but also
specifically preempts GMO seed labeling laws, such as those in Vermont and
Virginia that are designed to help farmers determine what seeds to buy and
plant. Additionally, either intentionally or through poor drafting, the bill
could be interpreted to be a preemption of more than 100 different state and
municipal laws and regulations throughout the nation.

5.    NO ENFORCEMENT AGAINST THOSE WHO
VIOLATE MANDATORY GMO LABELING – The bill provides no civil or criminal
penalties whatsoever against those not in compliance with GMO labeling
requirements. The bill specifically excludes the capacity of the USDA to order
any recall of misbranded food, even in cases where a product has been produced
with genetic engineering but the corporation involved purposely decides to
violate the law and not label.

For this and other reasons,
including the bill’s definitions being in direct conflict with regulations
under the National Organic Food Production Act, the Federal Food Drug and
Cosmetic Act and the international Codex Alimentarius, the undersigned
organizations and companies urge you to VOTE NO on this misguided, inherently
discriminatory bill.



Thank you for your
consideration.



Sincerely,



Center for Food Safety

Food and Water Watch

Abundance Cooperative Market

Acequia Institute (Almunyah
de las Dos Acequias)

Beyond Pesticides

Biosafety Alliance

Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center Central Park West CSA

Citizens for GMO Labeling

Crop CSA

Crush Wine and Spirits

Dr. Bronner’s

East New York Farms

Empire State Consumer
Project

Family Farm Defenders

Farm Aid

Food Democracy Now

Foundation Earth

Friends of the Earth

Genesis Farm

GMO Action Alliance

GMO Free NY

GMO Free USA

GMO Inside

Good Earth Natural Foods iEat Green, LLC

Institute for Responsible
Technology

International Center for Technology Assessment

Katchkie Farm

Keep the Soil in Organic Coalition

Kezialain Farm

Label GMOs

LIC Brewery

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service

Miskell's Premium Organics

Moms Across America

National Family Farm Coalition

National Organic Coalition

Nature’s Path

Nine Mile Market

Non-GMO Project

Nutiva

Northeast Organic Dairy
Producers Alliance

Northeast Organic
Farming Association

Northeast Organic
Farming Association of New York Northeast Organic Farming Association of New
Hampshire Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont

NYC H20

Oregon Right to Know

Organic Consumers Association

Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association

Our Family Farms

PCC Natural Markets

Pesticide Action Network North America

Presence Marketing

Regeneration Vermont

Riverside-Salem United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ

Rodale Institute

Rural Advancement Foundation International

Rural Advancement Foundation International USA

Rural Vermont

Sierra Club

Slow Food California

Slow Food Hudson Valley

Slow Food North Shore

Slow Food USA

Soil Not Oil Coalition

Sunnyside CSA

The Cornucopia Institute

The Organic & Non-GMO Report

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Vermont Public Interest
Research Group

Vermont Right to Know GMOs
Coalition

Wood Prairie Family Farm



For more information, please contact Center for Food Safety at 202-547-9359