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Today marked a huge win for consumers across the US as the Senate rejected the Denying Americans the Right to Know Act (DARK). The bill was proposed and pushed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas). The House of Representatives had passed their version of the bill last summer, and instead of amending the bill, the Senate opted to reject it altogether.
The bill would have prevented state legislature requiring labeling for any genetically engineered foods (GMOs), and it would have stopped any currently pending labeling laws from going into effect. Had the bill gone into effect, it would have protected giant food processing companies and the biotech industry, and it would have given these giants plenty of wiggle room to mislead consumers.
Ultimately, the bill was voted down because it failed to address the problems it was designed to solve, namely avoiding a patchwork of state labeling laws. For those fighting for GMO labeling laws, the DARK Act had a laundry list of problems that would have been harmful to consumers.
First of all, the bill narrowed the definition of “bioengineering.” The DARK Act incorporated fewer methods of engineering than the labeling guidelines outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and federal organic regulations. As defined by the bill, many products that are in fact bioengineered would have escaped the label of GMO altogether, and they would have been exempt from all labeling requirements.
In addition to giving an advantage to companies hoping to hide the GMOs in their products, the DARK Act would have also made it more difficult for companies who actually want to disclose GMO ingredients. Some companies like Campbell’s have already pledged to disclose all GMO ingredients in their products. However, under the DARK Act, there would have been designated thresholds that GMO content much meet in order to disclose them in a label. In the end, if a product did not contain enough of a genetically engineered ingredient, the company would not be able to label it at all.
Aside from the health/ labeling issues, another aspect of the bill likely struck a chord with a wide range of Senate members. DARK Act eliminated the power of the states in the labeling debate. Had the bill passed as a federal law, it would have superseded the labeling laws of states. It would have stalled any stricter measures from being implemented on the state level. States like Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut have already passed labeling laws, and the passage of the DARK Act could have even prevented parts of them from being enforced.
In sum, today was a big win for GMO labeling proponents, and consumers can still fight for their right to know.
