The GMO Labeling Act legislation is now federal law and according to Karen Howard, CEO and Executive Director, Organic & Natural Health Association, it is not legislation that is consumer friendly or helpful. Relying on QR code technology, consumers can scan products to see if they are non-GMO or GMO. The problem is that QR codes are cumbersome and difficult to use. When a mom is shopping at a local store, kids in the cart and dinner not bought, who has time to view information with a QR code. It would be much easier to have printed labels stating the ingredients of food products. Congress has let the American people down with this new law.

The idea of each state having different standards for GMO label was thought to protect consumers from the “confusion” and “increased costs” of a “patchwork quilt” of state legislation created at the hands of each state legislature. In reality, state legislation was collaboratively crafted to harmonize requirements across state lines while honoring each state’s power to enforce.

Howard says tells Late Night Health listeners, all that’s been accomplished is passage of a poorly written subversion of states’ rights in exchange for mandating companies to use a “handy dandy QR code” consumers can scan with a smart phone to determine if the products in their grocery carts contain GMO ingredients.

Howard blasted the legislation saying if the bill is “signed into law as is expected, consumers won’t have a clue what the intention of USDA or the FDA is, what the definition of genetically engineered means, or what products contain genetically engineered ingredients given the lack of transparency associated with the likely use of foolish QR codes on labels."

Mark Alyn, host of Late Night Health, will get to the bottom of QR code GMO labeling debacle with Karen Howard, CEO and Executive Director, Organic & Natural Health Association, and find out from a consumer point of view, why this is a bad deal.

air date: 8/26/16