Obama sells soul to Monsanto

SUBHEAD: In a time he could do the right thing, he persists in GMO evil doing.

By Nathanial Johnson on 29 July 2016 for Grist Magazine -
(http://grist.org/politics/gmo-labels-are-now-the-law-of-the-land/)


Image above: A sample of digital VR code that would pass for food ingredient labeling under law signed by Monsanto tool Obama. From (http://www.activistpost.com/2016/07/house-passes-gmo-labeling-bill-obama-set-to-sign.html).

We’re officially a country that labels GMOs now. President Obama signed a bill on Friday that requires food companies to label products with genetically engineered ingredients. They can do this by writing it on the box, slapping on a symbol, or applying a Quick Response (QR) code — something like a barcode. For more on the law, check out our previous coverage.

Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who was instrumental in pushing the bill through Congress, praised its passage in a statement. She said the law “gives our nation’s farmers and food companies a fresh opportunity to start a conversation with consumers about the importance and safety of biotechnology.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture now has two years to figure out how to define a GMO. Are they crops that have had their genes tweaked or silenced, or mutated with radiation? Should the definition be narrowly focused on the original transgenic crops? There will undoubtedly be fights during the rule-making process.

This new law overrides Vermont’s GMO-labeling law and prevents any other state-level GMO-labeling attempts, but it allows voluntary labeling to continue.



Obama leaves most in the DARK

By Staaff on 29 July 2016 for Food Safety Center -
(http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/4438/president-obama-signs-gmo-non-labeling-bill-leaves-millions-of-americans-in-the-dark#)


Image above: Demonstrators supporting California's Proposition 37 to label GMO food ingredients that narrowly failed. From original article.

Today President Obama signed into law a GMO labeling bill that discriminates against more than 100 million Americans. The bill recently passed through Congress and allows companies and producers to use QR codes, 1-800 numbers and other difficult to access technology to label food products that contain GMOs, instead of clear, on-package text.

The law also sets a dangerous precedent to override the sovereignty of states, as many state labeling laws, including Vermont’s recently enacted GMO labeling law, are now void.

Consumer, food safety, farm, environmental, and religious groups along with several food corporations representing hundreds of thousands of Americans condemned the bill when it was before Congress.

The FDA said the bill’s narrow and ambiguous definition of “bioengineering,” would “likely mean that many foods from GE sources will not be subject to this bill” and that it “may be difficult” for any GMO food to qualify for labeling under the bill.

 Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson said the bill raised “serious questions of discrimination” and left “unresolved matters of equal protection of the law”.

The following is statement from Andy Kimbrell, executive director at the Center for Food Safety:
“I don’t know what kind of legacy the president hopes to leave, but denying one-third of Americans the right to know what is in the food they feed their families isn’t one to be proud of.

This law is a sham and a shame, a rushed backroom deal that discriminates against low-income, rural, minority and elderly populations.

The law also represents a major assault on the democratic decision making of several states and erases their laws with a vague multi-year bureaucratic process specifically designed to provide less transparency to consumers.”
 See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Why Obama should veto DARK Act 7/29/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Tell Obama to Veto GMO DARK Act 7/23/16
Ea O Ka Aina: GMO guys the dumbest in the room 7/10/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Sham GMO labeling vote passes 7/8/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Senate endangers GMO labeling 7/4/16
Ea O Ka Aina: GMO Labeling Flimflam 7/2/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Vermont GMO labeling impact 5/30/16
Ea O Ka Aina: GMO labeling issue over? 4/18/16
Ea O Ka Aina: General Mills to label GMOs 3/21/16
Ea O Ka Aina: Congress may block GMO labeling 9/12/15
Ea O Ka Aina: US Congress & GMO labeling 4/25/13
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