The defeat of the DARK Act plus as the possible enlightenment regarding the limits of lawful government.

Date:   3/18/2016 9:30:58 AM ( 8 y ago)

July 15th Update from the Weston A. Price Foundation -

- ACT NOW: Tell President Obama to veto the DARK Act

"... the Senate voted last week to approve the Roberts-Stabenow version of the DARK Act. The next step is that it goes back to the House (since it's different from the version the House approved last summer) and then on to President Obama.

This bill would be more accurately termed an UNlabeling bill. It has huge loopholes, no enforcement mechanisms, and a two-year delay before anything happens – except that it immediately overrides state laws that are already in place.

This is not a 'compromise' on labeling – it is effectively a ban on GMO labeling, in disguise.

We expect the House to vote this week. Given that the earlier version of the DARK Act passed by a large margin, and that the House sponsor has said he'll support the Senate version, it will almost certainly pass the House.

The bill could be on the President's desk before the end of this week.

A presidential veto is our last chance to stop the DARK Act. Please take action today!

Note: if you look up S. 764, the bill number, you'll see that it was originally about defunding Planned Parenthood. But all of the original text has been removed, and replaced by an amendment inserting the DARK Act provisions. This bill has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood anymore. The text, as passed by the Senate, is available at:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/764/text

TAKE ACTION: Contact President Obama

You can contact President Obama in three ways: phone call, email, or signing an online petition on the White House's website. Remember that phone calls are the most effective, and take just a couple of minutes!

CALL the White House Comment Line: 202-456-1111

EMAIL: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

MESSAGE:
I urge President Obama to veto S. 764, the DARK Act, which pre-empts state laws on labeling.

This bill is riddled with loopholes. Worst yet, by allowing companies to use QR codes instead of words on the package, it creates barriers for every person who wants to find out information about what they're eating – and it discriminates against low income families, minorities, and seniors, all of whom are unlikely to have smartphones and/or the comfort level to use them to scan QR codes.

Less than half of all low income Americans can afford a smartphone. And only 21% of Americans surveyed have scanned QR codes. But everyone has to eat, and all Americans should know what they're buying.

President Obama, stand by your campaign promise that people deserve the right to know what's in their food, and veto this terrible bill.

ONLINE PETITION: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/veto-dark-act-s764

After you enter your name & email address, you will get a confirmation email. You must click on that link, or your signature won't be added.

The confirmation notice includes:

"Petition Title: VETO THE DARK ACT (S.764)

On July 7, the Senate passed a bill to label genetically modified foods allowing companies to use QR codes instead of words on the package. It discriminates against low income families, minorities, mothers, seniors, the disabled & those without smartphones.

In 2007 President Obama said, 'Well let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified because Americans should know what they're buying.'

ALL Americans should know what they're buying, not just the privileged.

Only 21% of Americans surveyed have scanned QR codes; QR code software must be downloaded. Just 27% of seniors & 50% of low income Americans own smartphones. 42% of Blacks & 36% of Latinos have had to let their smartphone service lapse. President Obama: Stand up for ALL Americans. Veto this discriminatory bill."


***
June 24th - Happy Birthday Melissa!

"BREAKING: Senate moves to preempt GMO labeling

Yesterday, Senator Roberts (R-KS) and Senator Stabenow (D-MI) announced a deal to bring Monsanto's dream bill to the Senate floor. Your Senators will vote as soon as next week.

The final bill is terrible. This so-called "compromise" simply hands Monsanto and Big Food corporations a complete victory.

Instead of on-package labels, the bill calls for companies to provide a website url, a QR code, a symbol or a phone number on the package, sending consumers on a wild goose chase to figure out what GMOs might be in their food.

This sham of a federal labeling scheme pre-empts any state law, robbing states of the right to adopt meaningful GMO labeling laws as Vermont has done.

Added to that, the bill doesn't even provide for any federal penalties for companies' failure to comply, and it excludes the most recent forms of genetic engineering. It's a total cave-in to Monsanto.

It's critical that you take action today, even if you have before.

Take Action

Call or email both of your U.S. Senators to urge them to oppose Senator Pat Roberts' bill or any compromise that doesn't mandate on-package labels for genetically engineered foods.

You can look up who your Senators are and find their contact information:

Online: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Phone: 202-224-3121


Here's a sample script for a call:

I urge Senator _____ to reject the latest version of Senator Roberts' bill (S. 2609), or any bill that prohibits states from requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs).

The current "compromise" for GMO labeling is completely unacceptable. Pre-empting state laws in favor of a federal program based on QR codes, a symbol, 1-800 numbers or a statement on packages referring people to websites is a sham. None of these provide information in a reasonable, accessible manner for consumers.

There won't even be any penalties for failing to comply, and the definition of genetic engineering is so narrow that it is already obsolete.

Many companies have already started to put clear GMO labels on their food packaging all across the country to comply with Vermont's law. The labeled food is the same price as the unlabeled, proving what we have said all along - labeling GMO foods is feasible and inexpensive.

Please listen to the vast majority of Americans and reject Senator Roberts' bill and any Senate compromise that would restrict states' rights for labeling and result in anything less than clear mandatory on-package labels that state "contains genetically engineered ingredients."

A phone call is more effective than an email. If you do send an email, please replace the opening few lines with your own personalized message -- personal messages have more impact than form emails."

I submitted my "comment" at both senators page. This time it was a breeze cause their online message form remembered by previous entries and so I didn't have to "punch in" any of those identifiers and just pasted in the "script" (with a minor change at the opening).

***
June 17th, 2016 -

Just received an update from the Weston A Price Foundation today. See my posting following the previous message of March 17th (exactly three months ago!).

On 03/17/2016 Weston A Price Foundation wrote:

Thanks to WAPF members and the thousands of Americans who spoke up for labeling GMOs and states' rights, the Senate did not get the 60 votes needed to move Monsanto's Dream Bill forward.

The bill, dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, would have preempted the GMO labeling law in Vermont and all other state laws on the issue, taking power away from our state legislatures. In place of the state laws for mandatory, on-package labeling, the DARK Act would have continued the failed approach of voluntary labeling, together with secretive QR codes, websites, and call-in numbers, none of which serve to inform the majority of consumers about what is in their food.

The defeat of the DARK Act is a major victory for the food movement and America's right to know - thank you for taking action!

... You can see how your Senators voted here:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=2&vote=00037

(Ignore the title about Planned Parenthood - the Senate was proposing to strip out the original text of the bill and replace it entirely
with the DARK Act text)

Senators Merkley (D-OR), Boxer (D-CA), Tester (D-MT), Blumenthal (D-CT), and others were true champions in speaking up for our right to know if our food contains genetically engineered ingredients.

While we can celebrate for a moment, we know that Monsanto and their allies are on Capitol Hill right now trying to figure out how they
will bring this back up. They are determined to block Vermont's mandatory labeling law from going into effect in July.

Stay tuned for future action alerts.

***
June 17th -

"The DARK Act fight: It’s not over yet!

Monsanto and other biotech companies are continuing to push for a bill to cut off your right to know what’s in your food. Thanks to people like you who spoke up, we stopped the DARK Act in March — but the fight is not yet over.

As you know, the bill, dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, would preempt state GMO labeling laws, taking power away from our state legislatures.

Although Senator Roberts couldn’t muster enough votes to pass the bill earlier this year, Big Food Corporations are gearing up for another push.

In place of state laws for mandatory, on-package labeling, the DARK Act would continue the failed approach of voluntary labeling, together with secretive QR codes, websites, and call-in numbers, none of which serve to inform the majority of consumers about what is in their food.

Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law goes into effect on July 1, and the pressure from the Big Food Corporations to pass Monsanto’s Dream Bill is stronger than ever. Please take action, even if you have before!

Take Action!

Call or email both of your U.S. Senators to urge them to oppose Senator Pat Roberts’ bill or any compromise that doesn’t mandate on-package labels for genetically engineered foods.

You can look up who your Senators are and find their contact information:

Online:http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Phone: 202-224-3121

Below is a sample script for a call. A phone call is more effective than an email. If you do send an email, please replace the opening few lines with your own personalized message — personal messages have more impact than form emails.

SAMPLE MESSAGE:

Hi, my name is ___, and I am a constituent. I urge Senator _____ to vote against S. 2609, which would block mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. I urge the Senator to stand up for both states’ rights and individuals’ rights to know.

We have a right to know what is in our food so that we can make educated decisions about the food we eat. The free market can only work when consumers have the information they need to make informed choices among different products. Without mandatory on-package labeling, consumers are effectively being defrauded.

The use of a bar code or QR code is not a valid substitute for mandatory labels. Over a third of all Americans don’t even own smartphones and could not read such codes. And many of those who own smartphones are not familiar with QR codes and wouldn’t even know that the information was available.

Moreover, QR codes are extremely burdensome for consumers. With on-package labeling, you can quickly find the information you need on the package — simple, fast, and practical. Under the industry’s proposal, the shopper needs to pull out his or her smartphone (while still holding the package of food), open up an app, wait for the camera to focus on the bar code, wait for a webpage to load, and then search the website for the relevant information.

There’s no real benefit to QR codes, since food manufacturers will still have to track which products have GMO ingredients. The real reason industry is pushing for QR codes instead of physical labels is to continue to keep the majority of consumers in the dark about what they’re eating.

I urge Senator ___ to vote against S. 2609 or any bill that would block state laws for mandatory physical labels on GMO foods."

I followed the link used the script and sent two messages to the two senators and it worked well! Try it, you may like it!

In Good Health!
~Chef Jemichel
(Former Founding WAPF Chapter Leader)

***
July 15th, 2016 -

I received a reply from "Senator Feinstein" and forwarded that to the WAPF with an underscore regarding the admitted "compromise" plus the senator's declaration: "I believe it is the only way our democracy works" that I was inspired to disagree with as follows:

Greetings Dear WAPF Friends,

Following is my response from "U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein" regarding the message I sent against the "DARK Act". If you read this you'll see she acknowledges the "compromise" that was made and her justification.

This senator also mentions "our democracy", which could possibly be a telling phrase if anyone within WAPF would be willing to hear it.

The idea that democracy is the form of government for "The United States of America" is no where to be found among all the stated ideals of the first founding fathers[1] and it is no where to be found in any of the four Organic Laws that are the true basis for all Lawful government throughout the U.S. of A.. Unfortunately the democracy myth has been perpetuated for at least seven decades, long enough to have most Americans believing as if democracy is a pro-American ideal which makes refuting the idea quite a challenge (maybe more challenging than teaching the difference between real food and the "foods of commerce")!

Nevertheless I've been refuting this myth for a number of years as I see a tremendous need for a much greater understanding regarding 'Lawful government" and especially the lawful limits of government.

I believe we need to know what the lawful limits of government are if we wish to restrain government (as our founding fathers indicated would be required). I also feel that WAPF could benefit from this understanding when responding to proposed Acts of Congress that we see leave Americans at risk with "foods of commerce". Would it be possible to have a dialogue about this?

Thank you for your consideration!

In the best of good health!

~Chef Jemichel
@ San Diego, California

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[1]
http://www.curezone.org/blogs/fm.asp?i=2298826


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Keywords:

DARK Act, Deny Americans the Right to Know, GMO labeling law, voluntary labeling, Food Corporations

 

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