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!
Yesterday’s vote was mostly along partisan lines, with most Democrats voting against the DARK Act and most Republicans voting for it, but with members of both parties breaking ranks. 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. As we saw with yesterday’s vote, your voice truly does make a difference.
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