By Donna Westfall – Credit to Organic Consumers Association –

QR Codes are those black and white patterns inside a square that appear on the back of a food product.

In order to read a QR Code, you need to have a smartphone. Then you have to have an app that allows you to scan the QR Code to see what’s in your food.  Does anyone have a problem with this? How many consumers have smartphones with that app on it?

MONSANTO has been pushing Congress to approve the DARK Act (dubbed by critics the Deny Americans the Right-to-Know Act) . But, because the public is having such a fit about Monsanto’s refusal and fight to label food products stating GMO’s are in it, Monsanto is now looking to compromise and have come up with this cockamamie idea of adding GMO’s to the QR Code. Everybody wanting to know what’s in their food could  run out and buy a smartphone and get the app to scan the QR code. Are they nuts? Of course not.  They’re just creative.

According to the Senate Office of Public Records and data for this year that was downloaded on October 23, 2015, Monsanto spent $3,580,000 on lobbyists for agricultural services/products. 

Organic Consumers Association lists the following countries (20 at last count) that have banned or are outlawing GMO and GE crops/seeds or food products,

1. Algeria: Banned the import, distribution, commercialization and utlilization of GE plants except for research purposes.
2. Austria: Bans on three GE maize (Novartis, Monsanto and AgrEvo), the Federal Institute for Less-Favured and Mountainous Areas is pressing for GM free legislation and published a study on GE-free zones, initiatives in the States of Vorarlberg and Salzburg to ban GE trials.
3. Australia: The State of Tasmania banned GE rapeseed as weed, Western Australia has banned commercial GE planting, Australian States are given the right to declare themselves GE free.  Some communities (e.g. Bondi/Sydney, West Wimmera Shire) declared themselves GE Free.
4. Brazil: Planting GE seeds is prohibited by federal law in Brazil for the time being, the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso do Sul have declared their intentions to remain GM-free, 18 States called upon the Central government to block commercial GE crop planting.
5. Egypt: Declared not to import GE wheat.
6. France: ban of PGS and AgrEvo HR rapeseed.
7. Germany: Ban of Novartis Bt maize. The initiative “No GE on communal land” of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) launched
8. communal land” of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) launched
   activities in several German communities to discuss and vote on the
   GE-free resolutions.
   Several protestant regional church organisations: banned GE crops from
   their land:
9. Greece: Ban of AgrEvo HR rapeseed, moratorium of GE crop trials.
10. Italy: The four regions Tuscany, Molise, Lazio and Marche and around 25 provinces, cities and commnes banned GE crops, including Rome
    Milan, Turin, Brescia and Genoa. These are all democractically-taken decisions in local or regional councils and in the case of Tuscany, the result has been ratified by the national government – the decision means that regional governments have been given the authority under Italian law to overturn decisions taken at EU level.
11. Luxembourg: Ban of Novartis Bt maize.
12. New Zealand: Some local bodies in Auckland and Wellington have declared themselves GM free. Trials with GE salmon have been blocked by the government.
13. Norway: Banned the import of several GE crops and products which contain antibiotic resistance genes.
14. Paraguay: The Ministry of Agriculture plans to ban GE crops from commercial planting.
15. Philippines: The community of Valencia called for a five-year moratoria on GE food and GE crop trials and commercialization.  The Philippine president announced a moratorium on GE crop research.
16. Saudi Arabia: Banned food that are made from GMOs and declared not to import GE wheat.
17. Spain: The Basque Government went for a five year blanket moratorium for GMO’s.  The Basque Government claims full powers for agricultural policy and thus that they can provisionally ban GMO’s if they so wish.  The three provinces of Castilla-La Mancha and Baleares banned GE foo, Andalucia declared a five year moratorim on GE crop trails and GE food.
    
18. Switzerland: Although a center of GE science and industry, only two two trials with GE potatoes in 1991/92 have been performed until now.
19. Thailand: Banned imports of 40 GE crops for commercial planting, but not for research purposes.
20. UK: The Church of England has refused permission for GE crop trials on 60,000 hectares of its land, dozens of local authorities supply GE free school lunches, the House of Commons banned GE foods for its catering.  The vote of the Welsh Assembly to keep Wales GE free was counteracted by the ministry of Agriculture approving a GE maize variety.  The Island of Jersey banned GE Crops.

Here’s what happening in the United States:

USA: Various bills calling for moratoria on GE food (Vermont), bans on GE wheat (North Dakota, Montana) have been filed within the last year. Several municipalities declared moratoria on GE food (Burlington/Vermont), bans of GE crops (City of Boulder/Colorado), or urged the federal government to ban GE food (City and County of San Francisco/California). Many attempts to adopt such bills or resolutions failed in the past.

Ever heard of BIOPIRACY?
The commercial development of biological compounds or genetic sequences by a technologically advanced country or organization without obtaining consent from or providing fair compensation to the peoples or nations in whose territory the materials were discovered.

In 2011, India filed suit against Monsanto for stealing India’s indigenous plants (like eggplant) in order to re-engineer them into patented varieties. The Indian public and farmers have been extremely outspoken and were successful in overturning the attempted approval of Monsanto’s GE modified eggplant. They have also successfully destroyed several attempted Monsanto GM test fields.

In 2009, cotton grown in India was in the news.  Monsanto’s scientists discovered that insects were resistant to their Bt cotton. Tragically, due to Monsanto’s noose around farmer’s neck on purchasing their seed, Indian farmers have one of the highest suicide rates.

And in America, Monsanto continues to wield a lot of power. Not only do GMO/GE crops continue to grow, but Monsanto continues to fight against letting the American public know what food stuffs contain GMO/GE products. Does this make sense?  Of course not.

To restate; instead of clear labeling on our food simply stating it contains GMO’s, we would get a complicated black and white dot pattern that needed to be scanned with a smartphone with a special app in order to be read.