SENATE AG COMMITTEE APPROVES OF S.A.F.E. ACT
The Senate Agricultural Committee has passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, also known as SAFE, which would forbid states from passing their own mandatory food labeling laws for GMOs. The bill, with its starkly Orwellian name, would prevent one such law that is scheduled to go into effect July 1 in Vermont should it pass the full Senate and House.
The bill, known to opponents as the Deny Americans the Right to Know Act, or the DARK Act, is said to preempt state law and prevent consumers from knowing what they are feeding themselves and their families.
Nonetheless, it sailed through the committee easily, with a 14-6 vote count. But a few principled senators stood tall against the onslaught of pro-GMO corporate money.
“Let the buyers make up their mind,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), who voted against the bill. “You seem to be saying to the world that GE producers have something to hide.”
Amen.
As we have seen, they have plenty to hide. And the more they can keep people in the dark about their activities, the better it is for business. As Monsanto states on its website: “There is no need for, or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans.”
Well, sure. If you are a giant multi-billion dollar conglomerate bent on taking over the world’s food supply so you can profit from it.
But the reality is the SAFE Act is not even about the well-known dangers of eating GMO foods, not to mention the dangers of allowing the biotech companies to continue to run roughshod across the entire planet, spreading their poison and lies.
No. This bill proposed a simple question: do we have a right to know what we are putting into our bodies?
And the response of 14 Senators on the committee was predictably craven. It is fascinating to witness the two-faced duplicity of supposedly stalwart libertarian types, forever clamoring to get the government’s hands out of individuals’ lives so we can choose to live as we want. To see Senators like Charles Grassley (R-IA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) turn around and support a bill that overtly gives government the power to take away Americans’ freedom to choose what’s best for them and their families would be laughable were it not so pathetic.
The legislation will now go to a vote on the Senate floor.
http://naturalsociety.com/senate-ag-committee-vote-dark-act-69571/
http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Senate-committee-passes-GMO-labeling-bill-6863252.php