by Health Impact News Editor

A current proposed federal law on GMO food would prevent States from passing their own GMO laws on labeling GMO foods. Dr. Mercola reports:

As it currently stands, the GMA, Monsanto and other chemical technology companies now have only one solid option remaining: to pass the federal Pompeo bill (HR 1599) in 2015, which would trump state law and strip states of the right to pass GMO food labeling bills.

The bill also allows unscrupulous food and beverage companies to continue mislabeling GMO-tainted foods as “natural” or “all natural.” The Pompeo bill, ironically named “The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” is proposing nothing if not inaccurate labeling of foods, by preventing you from ever learning which foods may contain GMOs. Critics of the bill have dubbed it the DARK Act, aka “Deny Americans the Right-to-Know” Act, which is exactly what the bill does.

The DARK Act (HR 1599) was introduced by Koch-sponsored Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS4). And while republicans are supposedly “standing together” to defend state rights, many republicans are joining with Pompeo to remove the rights of states, and to remove citizens’ right to know about genetically engineered foods.

This past week, Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group reported that Rep. Mike Pompeo’s anti-GMO labeling bill, H.R. 1599, would also prevent companies from voluntarily labeling their products with non-GMO claims:

[S]ection 102 of  Pompeo’s bill would make any non-GMO claim a violation of federal labeling law – unless the non-GMO claim was approved through a new certification program to be established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under Pompeo’s bill, it could take the USDA at least a year, and more likely years to set up such a certification program.

If the new version of H.R. 1599 were enacted tomorrow, all existing non-GMO claims would violate section 403 of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, the law that establishes whether a food product is “misbranded.”

Here’s what the new version of the DARK act would actually do:

• Block all state laws requiring mandatory GMO labeling, including a Vermont GMO labeling law set to go into effect in July of next year;
• Effectively block FDA from creating a national mandatory GMO labeling system;
• Block all non-GMO claims until USDA creates a non-GMO certification program;
• Block all state and local efforts to protect farmers and rural residents from the economic and environmental impacts of GMO crops, including pesticide drift;
• Prevent food companies from suggesting that non-GMO products are better than GMO products.

Taken together, it’s clear that the real intent of the new version of the DARK Act is to end all claims related to genetically modified ingredients – including both mandatory GMO labeling and voluntary non-GMO claims.

Read the full article here.

If you do not want the federal government forcing companies to stop voluntarily informing their consumers about whether or not their products have GMO ingredients in them, then urge your federal elected officials to oppose H.R. 1599 (and any Senate equivalent).

The Alliance for Natural Health has setup an Action Alert to help you contact your representatives.

Purchase foods that have been tested for the presence of GMOs.