U.S. House passes anti-GMO labeling law

Why you should care if genetically modified foods are not labeled in your future

Thaddeus Howze

Jul 25, 2015·5 min read

The debate whether GMOs are safe or not isn’t the only issue. All food should be labeled properly so we can judge for ourselves what we ingest. If I don’t want GMOs, I have as much right as the next person to be informed to make that decision for myself. People aren’t going to stop eating so the economy isn’t going to suffer if I choose to pay higher for local organic food. I should think it would improve.

“July 23 (Reuters) — The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a hotly debated measure that blocks any mandatory labeling of foods made with genetically engineered crops, including pre-empting a state law set to take effect next year in Vermont.

Dubbed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act by supporters, but the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” or DARK Act, by opponents, the measure was approved 275–150 with 45 Democrats voting for the bill.

House passage marks a victory for food and agricultural companies that have lobbied for the bill, and a blow to opponents, which include consumer, health and environmental groups and organic food industry players.

House members had a heated debate ahead of the vote with supporters claiming GMOs are proven safe. They said mandatory labeling would burden the food industry with unwieldy and costly requirements.

Opponents countered that 64 other countries require labeling of GMO foods, the science on safety is mixed, and consumers have a right to know if their food is made with GMOs.”

While Congress seems to think the discussion regarding GMOs is all but complete, there are plenty of people who disagree strongly and do their best to ask the questions Congress no longer seems able to ask, due to the obscene amounts of money they are being lobbied with by Monsanto and other biotech concerns.

Activist Jeff Kirkpatrick makes some points that are spot on and need addressing. In no particular order:

• It IS about whether GMOs are safe.
• It is also about the fact that they are bad for socio-ecological sensitive areas around the world;
• the fact that they are bad for the environment;
• the fact that there is a lack of independent studies before they are approved as well as a lack of regulations regarding studies on how they are applied in agriculture after they are used — which includes assessments of the use of pesticides and herbicides, etc;
• it is also about IP patent laws, and a few companies having control over the world’s food supply,
• the corruption of politicians;
• it’s about the suppression of science and attacks on scientists who have findings that aren’t in favor of the biotech industry;
• it’s about the absence of ethical issues: should they even genetically modify one food one way at all in the first place, and for what reasons (think golden rice: just distribute vitamin A supplement instead, much cheaper, much more effective, fewer problems);
• it’s about cross contamination issues with non-GMO and organic crops;
• it’s about the increased use of poisonous chemicals like glyphosate, 2,4-D, and the added chemicals like dicamba, and isoxaflutole and more;
• it’s about Monsanto’s lack of ethics as a company and suing farmers, and trying to stop labeling laws by funding lawsuits against them;
• it’s about the lack of biodiversity and the continual problem of monoculture that is never addressed;
• it’s about the propaganda and disinformation campaigns by Monsanto and company to hide what they are doing and what they are doing;
• it’s about suicides in India because of the Bt cotton issue — part of the blame for that goes to Monsanto, who introduced that cotton in India years ago without abiding by the country’s patent laws first;
• it’s about the decline of the butterflies and bees and other pollinators; it’s about perpetuating myths like “without GMO foods, the world of 7 billion people will starve” (emotional blackmail based on falsehoods);
• in the end it’s about the right of the American people to be informed consumers, for ALL the reasons listed above, and more.
• It is about 64 other countries around the world having that right to label GMO foods (in varying degrees) while we are exempted by a corrupted political process.
• It is about the absence of a true democratic process, wherein over 90% of Americans, in poll after poll, said they wanted GMO labeling, and in light of that, the fact that the House of Representatives failed in their jobs, on the whole, to represent the will of the American people and instead represented the will of the biotech industries and interested parties.

Ask yourself, if there is nothing to hide, why are they so hell bent on keeping the information secret?

Anyone remember that cigarettes didn’t cause cancer? Except that they did. A fifty year program of disinformation that continues until this very day, paying off people or burying them in legal paperwork until they die.

There are many people who want to compare the eugenic development of food products over the centuries to the genetic engineering of plants today.

To those people I say, learn to read. The processes are not even remotely the same and giving corporations such as Monsanto, known for duplicitous actions in the development of their products and how they treat people who cross them should make everyone take pause.

When billions of dollars are spent lobbying the hall of government, you have to know there are two things to consider:

1. There is money to be made by hiding the truth. Money that otherwise might not be made if people were given information and a choice.

2. There is a potential hazard just waiting around the corner that the provider of the services knows about and considers the money to be made worth any number of people dying and paying them out in lawsuits. This is how Big Pharma makes its living. Look it up.

REFERENCES:

Ahmed, Nafeez. “No scientific evidence of GM food safety — INSURGE intelligence — Medium.” Medium.com. N.p. Web. 25 Jul. 2015. <https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/no-scientific-evidence-of-gm-food-safety-a1c814d0f70c>

“H.R. 1599: Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.” Govtrack.us. N.p. Web. 25 Jul. 2015. <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2015/h462>

Gillam, Carey. “UPDATE 2-U.S. House passes anti-GMO labeling law.” Cnbc.com. N.p. 23 Jul. 2015. Web. 25 Jul. 2015. <http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/23/reuters-america-update-2-us-house-passes-anti-gmo-labeling-law.html>