If I told you that there is actually bill in the U.S. Senate right now designed to prevent us from knowing what is in the food we eat, would you believe me? Or would you say this is some kind of crazy scare tactic, and that it could never happen in the USA?

Unfortunately, this is happening. It’s an example of just how much money Big Agriculture have invested that they were able to lobby our Senators to even propose such a bill and bring it to a vote. Here are the portions of H.R. 4432 that I find most concerning:

Preempts any state or local requirement respecting a bioengineered organism intended for a food use or application, or food produced from, containing, or consisting of a bioengineered organism.

Sets forth standards for any food label that contains claims that bioengineering was or was not used in the production of the food. Preempts any state and local labeling requirements with respect to bioengineered food.

Requires the Secretary to issue regulations setting standards for a natural claim on food labels. Preempts any state or local regulations that are not identical to the requirements of this Act.

Per the bold text (my emphasis) above, not only will this legislation prevent genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from being labeled in the U.S, but it will also automatically invalidate any mandatory labeling laws that have already been passed in individual states. H.R. 4432 has been nicknamed “The DARK Act” – Denying Americans the Right to Know what is in our food. As of the publication of this post, more than 70 initiatives to label GMOs have been introduced in over 30 states (source). Clearly, Americans want to know what is in our food. I know I do!

And it’s not an unrealistic request — foods that are manufactured by major food brands here in the U.S. are already exported to Europe with slightly different labeling to meet the GMO labeling requirements in other countries. See picture proof of different labels for the same products manufactured in the same American factories in this post. So the objection that GMO labeling will be “cost prohibitive” is false because major brands are already labeling their products for sale in Europe. They actually spend more money producing dual labeling now than they would if they labeled the products the same way in all countries.

We need to come together to speak out against this legislation.

If you’ve followed me long, you know that I rarely ask you to take advocacy action. There are so many important ways to be involved that it’s often difficult to take a stand on just one. So I save my social media and blogging influence for when it really matters. I believe that this really matters and that now is the time to act.

2 ways you can help

1. Sign the petition hosted by JustLabelIt.org. There is a handy option on the site where you can provide your address and automatically generate an email to your Senator(s). I did this from my iPhone in less than 5 minutes. [NOTE: In Texas, you will be asked to specify the topic of your email in a form – choose “Agriculture”]

2. Call your Senator personally. Our advocacy experts tell us that calling a Senator’s office personally holds so much more weight than a petition or even an email. Staffers take detailed notes of each call, so be polite and brief, but be honest and firm. Tell them why you care. They need to know we are serious! Use WhoIsMyRepresentative.com to find their phone number. I will update this post with a link to talking points when I have it. Until then, be authentic. Speak from the heart.

BONUS: Share on social media.
Facebook: follow and Share posts by JustLabelIt.org and Mamavation
Twitter: follow and retweet posts by JustLabelIt.org, Mamavation, and myself. @ your Senator, if you can!

Use the following hashtags: #StoptheDARKAct #WeekofAction

If you join me, please let me know! Join my Facebook group to discuss it or tweet at me! Thanks for sharing!