SENATE AG COMMITTEE APPROVES S.A.F.E. ACT (Which is Really the DARK Act)

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TAKE ACTION NOW: TELL SENATE NOT TO PASS the DARK ACT! http://tinyurl.com/AllowGMOLabels

The Senate Agricultural Committee has approved  the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, HR 1599, also known as SAFE, which would forbid states from passing their own mandatory food labeling laws for GMOs. The bill, with its starkly Orwellian name, would prevent one such law that is scheduled to go into effect July 1 in Vermont should it pass the full Senate and House.

SAFE Act, known to opponents as the Deny Americans the Right to Know Act, or DARK Act, preemptd state GMO labeling laws and prevents consumers from knowing what they are feeding themselves and their families.

Nonetheless, it sailed through the committee easily, with a 14-6 vote count. A few principled senators stood tall against the onslaught of pro-GMO corporate money.

“Let the buyers make up their mind,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), who voted against the bill. “You seem to be saying to the world that GE producers have something to hide.”

Amen.

As we have seen, they have plenty to hide. GMOs were in 1994, without scientific review or discussion, granted the totally unscientific designation “Substantially Equivalent” (compared to non GMO food despite the fact that GMOs, but not real food, can be patented and long term feeding, genetic and environmental studies had never been carried out). All independent science since then studying these products has shown their dangers. There is a great deal to hide.

The more the GMO industry can keep people in the dark about their activities, the better it is for business. A Monsanto VP said in an interview that if GMO food were labeled “You might as well put a skull and cross bones on it.” Further, Monsanto states on its website: “There is no need for, or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans.”

No value, indeed, if you are a giant multi-billion dollar conglomerate bent on taking over the world’s food supply so you can profit from it.

But in reality the SAFE Act is not even about the well-known dangers of eating GMO foods, nor the dangers of allowing the biotech companies to continue to run roughshod across the entire planet, spreading their poison and lies.

No. This bill answers a simple question: do we have a right to know what we are putting into our bodies?

Fourteen senators answered in the negative.

Their response was predictably craven. It is fascinating to witness the duplicity of supposedly stalwart libertarian types, forever clamoring to get the government’s hands out of individuals’ lives so we can choose to live as we want. To see Senators like Charles Grassley (R-IA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) support a bill that overtly gives government the power to take away Americans’ freedom to choose what’s best for them and their families would be laughable were it not so pathetic.

The legislation will now go to a vote on the Senate floor.

http://naturalsociety.com/senate-ag-committee-vote-dark-act-69571/

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/the-very-real-danger-of-genetically-modified-foods/251051/
http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Senate-committee-passes-GMO-labeling-bill-6863252.php

List of co-sponsors of the DARK Act, for whom I would recommend never voting again, can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1599/cosponsors?q={%22search%22%3A[%22Safe+and+Accurate+Food+Labeling%22]}&resultIndex=1