Agricultural News
FoodDemocracyNow Vows Legal Challenge to GMO Labeling Law
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 21:34:56 CDT
One group that is clearly angry over the decision by President Barack Obama to sign the GMO Labeling Bill into law is FoodDemocracyNow. The following statement was released by their Executive Director, Dave Murphy.
"By signing into law S. 764 President Obama has written a blank check to Monsanto and Big Food while betraying his 2007 promise while running for the White House. Attorneys for FoodDemocracyNow! will be mounting a legal challenge in the coming weeks for this law's numerous legal problems including its infringement on the 14th amendment of the Constitution that guarantees "equal protection for all."
"Among the law's failures is the glaring discrimination against the elderly, the poor, and anyone without a smart phone. The unenforceable labeling system the law mandates are defined by QR codes, a 1-800 number and anyone with a smart phone. The discriminatory nature of the bill will deny the elderly, poor many minorities, rural Americans and even some religious groups' (e.g. the Amish) access to basic information about their food, leaving behind nearly a third of all Americans that do not own or can't afford or choose not to use (on religious grounds) this modern technology.
"According to Pew Research Center, only 64% of Americans own a smartphone, while only 52% of rural Americans, 50% of low- income people and 27% of seniors own smartphones.
"This means that of the 46.2 million elderly people in the United States more than 33 million elderly Americans won't be able to find out what's in their food.
"This law denies that basic right to tens of millions of Americans and creates a permanent digital divide between the haves and have-nots. Americans deserve better than this.
"Beyond these legal obstacles is the real possible threat to the future of organic standards with the language regarding consistency between the definitions of bioengineered and the Organic Food Production Act of 1990. Under a future USDA Secretary these rules could be interpreted in a way that eliminates the organic prohibition of GMOs and biotechnology.
"By signing this bill, President Obama has endangered the organic industry to the real threat of being forced to re-define its entire ethical production standards, which clearly prohibit GMO technology."
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