The GMO DARK Act: Denying Americans the Right to Know

By Catherine J. Frompovich

Do Americans like to eat? Do Americans want to eat genetically modified organisms or foods?

What are your answers? If you are like most Americans, you answered a resounding “yes” to the first question, but a determined “no” to the second one. Actually, 93 percent of Americans want GMOs labeled! So, what are you going to do about that?

Well, are readers aware that U.S. House of Representatives member Mike Pompeo (R-KS) introduced HR1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, which is nothing but a shill piece of corporate-produced legislation to prevent GMO food labeling in the USA. Pompeo’s bill has great financial backing, including what’s known as astroturfing activities [3] where corporations buy activists to support their cause, and in this case, HR1599.

Americans who don’t want to be forced any longer to eat GMOs, due to lack of labeling in the USA, need to rally around two counter-bills that will give every American eater “the Right to Know” what he or she is eating because all foods that are GMO will have to be labeled in the marketplace.

Two GE Food Right-to-Know Bills to Support

HR913

House of Representatives member Peter DeFazio (D-OR), in February 2015, introduced HR913, the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act [1] “to require that genetically engineered food and foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients be labeled accordingly.”

Here’s where readers and eaters come in: You have to gather support for passage of that bill into law by spreading word about it and also contacting your members of the House of Representatives and telling them to vote yes and pass HR913 into law. Here’s where you can find and contact any member of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Representatives Mr. Schiff, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Grayson, Ms. Gabbard, Ms. Pingree, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Polis, Ms. Speier, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Young of Alaska, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Welch, Ms. Titus, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Honda, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Lowenthal, and Mr. Conyers are co-sponsors of HR913.

S.511

There’s a companion bill in the U.S. Senate introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The Senate bill S.511 [2] is cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ). Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), David Cicilline (D-RI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), Don Young (R-AK), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Dina Titus (D-NV), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and Michael Honda (D-CA). Here’s where you can find and contact any member of the U.S. Senate to tell them vote yes on S.511:  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Over 120 businesses, groups, etc. support the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act, and you can find them listed here.

According to the Institute for Responsible Technology and Jeffrey Smith, there are ten reasons to avoid GMOs. I will list the highlights. For more information about each reason, please refer to this.

1. GMOs are unhealthy.
2. GMOs contaminate—forever.
3. GMOs increase herbicide use.
4. Genetic engineering creates dangerous side effects.
5. Government oversight is dangerously lax.
6. The biotech industry uses “tobacco science” to claim product safety.
7. Independent research and reporting is attacked and suppressed.
8. GMOs harm the environment.
9. GMOs do not increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.
10. By avoiding GMOs, you contribute to the coming tipping point of consumer rejection, forcing them out of our food supply.

Readers, I’m counting on you not to let U.S. eaters down on carrying the ball to get HR1599 DEFEATED. It’s known as the DARK bill—Denying Americans the Right to Know, or not permitting GMOs to be labeled in the USA. That bill, if passed, would block state and local efforts to require GMO labeling. How do you like that? You can tell your members of Congress what you really think about what amounts to apparent deceitful corporate advertising here.

However, if you want to be certain to have GMOs labeled, you had better contact your members of Congress soon, and tell them to vote YES for HR913 and S.511. This is one legislative bill fight we cannot afford to lose.

GMO, OMG, WTF Are We Eating! That’s the logo on a sweat shirt a friend gave me. Carry it forward, and thanks.

References:

[1] https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr913/text
[2] https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s511
[3] http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1324138

Resources:

Just Label It
http://www.justlabelit.org/

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.

Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008)