The DARK Act: Monsanto’s Dream Come True, a Waking Nightmare for Clean Food and the Environment

Carolanne Wright/ Wake Up World

In a startling victory for Monsanto, the United States House of Representatives, against enormous public and industry outcry, passed H.R. 1599 — widely known as the “Deny Americans the Right to Know Act” or “The Dark Act.” This decision comes despite the opposition of over 300 farmer, environmental and consumer groups who opposed the bill in a letter to Congress, not to mention disapproval from the National Farmers Union, America’s second largest farming organization. Don’t also forget that 93% of respondents in a 2013 New York Times poll were also supportive of mandatory labeling for genetically engineered food.

And yet, House members decided to push through the “mother of all Monsanto protection acts,”which will invalidate the existing mandatory GMO labeling laws in any state — like the one in Vermont — and preempt any future state and federal GMO bans and labeling laws.

Observes Ronnie Cummins, International Director of the Organic Consumers Association, our so-called representatives have “voted against truth and transparency, against science, against the more than century-old right of states to legislate on matters relating to food safety and labeling. They voted against the 90-percent of Americans who are in favor of mandatory labeling of GMOs. They voted against the producers of non-GMO foods. They voted against you.”

‘Safe and Accurate’ Food Labeling Act of 2015

The summary of the bill itself offers several points which illustrate how this legislation has everything to do with protecting biotechnology and nothing to do with consumer welfare:

This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the developer of a bioengineered organism intended as food to submit a premarket biotechnology notification to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A “bioengineered organism” (commonly called a “genetically modified organism” or “GMO”) is a plant or part of a plant that has been modified through recombinant DNA techniques in a way that could not be obtained using conventional breeding techniques.

The premarket notification must include the developer’s determination that food from, containing, or consisting of the GMO (GMO food) is as safe as a comparable non-GMO food. For the GMO to be sold as food, the FDA must not object to the developer’s determination. If the FDA determines that there is a material difference between a GMO food and a comparable non-GMO food, the FDA can specify labeling that informs consumers of the difference.

A food label can only claim that a food is non-GMO if the ingredients are subject to certain supply chain process controls. No food label can suggest that non-GMO foods are safer than GMO foods. A food can be labeled as non-GMO even if it is produced with a GMO processing aid or enzyme or derived from animals fed GMO feed or given GMO drugs.

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