“DARK Act” Finds New Ways to Keep Consumers Guessing About GMOs

For Immediate Release
June 18, 2015

“DARK Act” Finds New Ways to Keep Consumers Guessing About GMOs

WASHINGTON- Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) has found new ways to keep Americans in the dark about whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients, or GMOs.

During a hearing in the House of Representatives, members of Congress considered a new draft of a bill that has come to be known as the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act. This latest version of the DARK Act adds a provision that would stop states from regulating GMO crops, in addition to the existing preemption of state GMO labeling laws.

“States have a well-established history of determining the best labeling system for their citizens. Since the federal government has refused to give consumers the information they want through national, mandatory GMO labeling, local officials have stepped in to fill the void,” said Gary Hirshberg, chairman of the Just Label It campaign and chairman and co-founder of Stonyfield Farm. “The fact that Congress is coming up with new, more devious, ways to strip states of the ability to give consumers the right to know is outrageous.”

Like previous versions of the bill, the DARK Act would also sharply limit the FDA’s authority to create a national labeling requirement, create a voluntary labeling system under USDA, similar to the flawed system already in place, and could limit or prohibit other non-GMO claims on packages. While the government gets a new voluntary, non-GMO labeling system up and running, consumers would have no way of even knowing about the absence of GMOs in their food, as it would end the current independent certification process.

Because neither Congress nor the federal government has required GMO labeling JLI has launched its “Conceal of Reveal” campaign to ask big food companies to stop funding anti-labeling efforts and give American consumers label the presence of GMOs in their products.

“Food companies are required to label GMOs in 64 other countries around the world. What then do these big food and biotech companies- who are spending millions on anti-labeling campaigns- have to hide?” said Hirshberg. “It seems to me consumers deserve this very basic, American right: to know what is in the food they are feeding their families and how it was grown.”

Media contact: press@justlabelit.org