GMO Labeling Bill Passes Senate, Headed for House VoteBy Derrick Broze On Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved theAgriculture Biotechnology Solution billwhich will require foods containing genetically modified ingredients to be labeled with words, pictures, or a QR code that must be scanned by a smartphone. The Senate voted 63 to 30 to approve the bill after a controversial cloture vote on Wednesday. The bill will now head to the House of Representatives for a vote. If approved in the House the bill would go on to President Obama to be signed into law. Food ingredients like beet sugar and soybean oil, which can be derived from genetically-engineered crops but contain next to no genetic material by the time they are processed, may not fall under the laws definition of a bioengineered food, critics say,Reuters reported. Other critics of the bill say that GMO corn may also be excluded from the bill. This means that beet sugar, soy, and corn (the crops which are among the most genetically modified in the world) might not be covered under the current language of the bill. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concerns about the involvement of the USDA in a list of worries sent in a June 27 memo to the Senate Agriculture Committee, Reuters noted. Thursdays vote came after a contentious vote on Wednesday which invoked cloture, a rule that prevents attempts to delay or filibuster a bill. The U.S. Senate voted 65 to 32 in favor of cloture, forcing an up-or-down vote to take place within 30 hours. During the cloture vote members of the Organic Consumers Association protested the vote by throwing moneyfrom the Senate gallery onto the floor. The Hill reported that protestersyelled Monsanto Money and Sen. Stabenow, listen to the people, not Monsanto while $2,000 fell to the floor. U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow previously calledthe bill an important path forward that represents a true compromise. Since time is of the essence, we urge our colleagues to move swiftly to support this bill. Roberts said if his colleagues do not act on the bill now Vermonts law will cause confusion in the marketplace. The bill would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years to write the labeling rules. The bipartisan billwould immediately prohibit states and cities from passing labeling laws for genetically modified or engineered ingredients. Genetically modified or engineered seeds are engineered to have certain traits, such as resistance to herbicides. The majority of the United States corn and soybean crops are now GE, including a large portion that is used for animal feed. The bill would also put the USDA in charge of establishing a uniform national disclosure standard for human food that is or may be bioengineered. Critics of a federal standard worry about the USDA being pressured by biotechnology companies that have a close relationship to U.S. regulatory agencies. The proposal would also require companies producing foods with GE ingredients to post a label, including text on package, a symbol, or a link to a website (QR code or similar technology). Smaller food manufacturers can use websites or telephone numbers to disclose ingredients. In late February, Roberts introduced another bill which attempted to create a federal voluntary standard for labeling GE food. Roberts Senate Bill 2609, or the Biotech Labeling Solutions Act, would have blocked mandatory labeling efforts by states. In March, the bill failed to reach the 60 votes needed during a procedural vote, with 49 votes in favor and 48 votes against. Roberts bill was similar to the controversial Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, which passed the House in June 2015 but ultimately failed amid heavy opposition. To critics, the bill was known as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act because the law was also aimed at nullifying GMO labeling measures, such as the billpassed in Vermont. The latest bipartisan effort contains language that is identical to both of the previous bills. The bill would amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a national voluntary labeling standard for bioengineered foods. Its safe to say that this new bipartisan compromise is simply the latest version of the DARK Act and will likely live up to its name by keeping Americans in the dark regarding what is in their food. When it comes to food policy, more and more Americans are questioning the influence of biotechnology giants like Monsanto. Recently, Common Dreams reported, in data revealed by OpenSecrets.org and the Organic Consumers Association, that Senators who had voted on a procedural vote in favor of the bill received more than twice as much in contributions from the agriculture lobby than those who voted No ($867,518 for the supporters vs. $350,877 for opponents). Make no mistake, your food supply is under attack. The American government is in bed with Monsanto and dozens of other corporations that help create policy. This bill will pass the House and President Obama will sign it into law. The law will keep Americans in the dark about what is in their food while telling the public that a federal system is the best way forward. So what are the solutions? Build locally. Get involved with your community and begin growing your own food. As simple as it may sound it is the strongest and most accessible solution for the majority of people. Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for selfnewsPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link. They are trying to make growing selling fresh farm food illegal too. Not that I will stop. Will any one take this to court as a tenth amendment violation of Vermonts rights. Keep calling your Congress people in the House. Let them know we know who is giving them money that they are stirring the wrath of the people. They already have CAWS. The Safe Food Modernization Act of 2010. Work it out. We/you are kept in a permanent stasis of war, violence, fear and sickness. We/you are the product. Wake up, please! Get the rope. Were gonna need a lot more rope. Anyone know a good American rope company to invest in? America will continue this genocide by stealth, on their own people because the rest of the world will not tolerate it, and this is the main reason for the RUSSO PHOBIA, because RUSSIA are the first country to totally ban GMOS, and AMERICA will always demonise any country that does not want to take their poison. It not only should be labeled, CONgress you are impotent, but it should be BANNED. I recently came across a small bag of Lays potato chips which stated right on the package that it contained genetically modified ingredients. It is not only Monsanto and other biotech companies, who are behind that crime=genocide. The scientific establishment, like NAS, Nobel Prize winners, etc, are the ones who claim genetically modified food is safe, while supporting a carcinogenic chemicals with which every single GMO is laced, in addition to their lethal genes spreading the genetic pollution everywhere. GMOs are science based, a so must be protected by those who make them, the scientists themself, not only corrupted politicians 