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VIDEO: Gwyneth Paltrow Demonstrates Why QR Codes are an Unacceptable Alternative to GMO-Labels

With Vermont’s GMO-labeling bill set to go into effect on July 1st, federal efforts to kill this bill — via the DARK Act — have still not died.

The DARK Act, a federal bill which would make it illegal for states to label GMOs, was passed in the House last year but was narrowly defeated in the Senate several weeks ago.

We know that Republicans absolutely do not want Vermont’s bill to go into effect and are still trying to push the DARK Act through the Senate. What is making more news as of late is that Senator Debbie Stabenow, an influential Democrat from Michigan who has taken $500,000 in donations from Monsanto, Dow, and Coca-Cola, wants the DARK Act to pass as well.

Determined to arrive at a compromise that would placate her GMO donors, Senator Stabenow is pushing harder than ever for QR codes instead of GMO-labels on packaging. The goal would be to have food companies agree to QR codes in return for making Vermont’s bill illegal.

The great video above from Just Label It (JLI), which features both Gwyneth Paltrow and Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield’s Co-Founder and JLI’s Founder, makes a complete mockery of this QR code solution and demonstrates why this compromise would be a horrible one. As the video shows, QR codes are not easy nor practical.

From the Center for Food Safety, here are the facts that you should know:

• Only 64 percent of Americans own a smartphone. That means that more than a third of all Americans will not be able to use this form of labeling. Moreover, those left out are disproportionately low income and those living in non-urban areas.
• According to Pew Research Center, only 50% of low income people in the U.S. own a smartphone; only 52% of people living in rural areas own a smartphone; and only 27% of seniors own a smartphone.
• Even those who do own smartphones are not guaranteed consistent access to the internet.

TAKE ACTION

It is important that you tell your Senators in Washington, D.C. that QR codes are not acceptable. QR codes are discriminatory and incredibly burdensome, and we don’t want them. We want GMO-labels on the outside of a product’s packaging. Period.

Please call your Senators directly (http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/) and sign the:

Center for Food Safety’s petition HERE.

Just Label It’s petition HERE.

Thank you so much for supporting our right to know what’s in our food.