{"id":31643,"date":"2022-09-20T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T04:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=31643"},"modified":"2022-09-19T17:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T21:07:22","slug":"not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, September 20, 2022) A federal court this month declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully in allowing food retailers to label genetically engineered (GE, or GMO) foods with only a \u201cQR\u201d code. The decision, made by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as a result of a lawsuit<\/a> against USDA by a coalition of nonprofits led by Center for Food Safety, along with organic retailers Natural Grocers and Puget Consumers Co-op. “This is a win for the American family. They can now make fully informed shopping decisions instead of being forced to use detective work to understand what food labels are hiding,” said Alan Lewis, Vice President for Advocacy and Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. “The public’s rejection of hidden GMOs has been weighed by the Court to be greater than the agrochemical industry’s desire to hide GMOs behind incomprehensible bureaucratic rules.”<\/p>\n

In 2016, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards Act<\/a>, which established federal standards around labeling GE foods. That bill, dubbed by GE transparency advocates as the DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act, was the result of a deal between U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MO) and Pat Roberts (R-KS)<\/a>, and widely seen as an effort to block a strong GE labeling law passed by the state of Vermont<\/a> as part of a wave of grassroots advocacy around the issue<\/a>. Under the new law, all state-level GE labeling efforts became preempted (prohibited) by federal law, a weak definition of \u201cbiotechnology\u201d provided several loopholes, and food retailers were to be given a choice of labeling options to be determined by USDA.<\/p>\n

Congress mandated that USDA study the challenges associated with using electronic or digital \u201cQR\u201d code links. Based on the study, the USDA Secretary was to determine whether consumers would have sufficient access to information about the presence of GE materials in one\u2019s food. If not, the Secretary was required to consult with retailers and provide additional disclosure options.<\/p>\n

USDA refused to release the results of this study when it was completed. It took a 2017 lawsuit from Center for Food Safety<\/a> to force the department\u2019s hand, resulting in a public release less than two weeks after the legal challenge was launched. The study found that low-income, rural, and elderly Americans were most likely to encounter technological challenges in receiving information from a QR code. Reasons include lack of equipment like a smartphone, unreliable internet connections, and difficulty using QR technology. In general, it found Americans of all ages and backgrounds to be unfamiliar with QR codes.<\/p>\n

The USDA study did find that over half of U.S. adults care and want to know whether their food is genetically engineered, a figure that cut across region, age, gender, and income. Yet USDA\u2019s takeaway was not to embrace transparency, but instead the discriminatory approach of QR codes<\/a> that keeps low-income, rural, and elderly Americans in the dark. Further, instead of utilizing the term genetically engineered or genetically modified organisms, names most Americans are familiar with, the department opted to have these products labeled as \u201cbioengineered.\u201d In its original proposal, USDA went as far as to suggest the use of a happy, smiling sun that would read either \u201cbioengineered\u201d or \u201cmay be bioengineered food.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

USDA significantly curtailed foods subject to the disclosure requirement, allowing a range of loopholes for manufacturers to avoid labeling foods that may in fact contain GE ingredients. For instance, foods that list either meat, poultry, eggs, broth, stock or water as the first ingredient are not required to be labeled, even if other ingredients in the product are GE. Even more egregiously, food products containing \u201crefined\u201d GE ingredients (such as oil from GE soybeans, or candy bars with high fructose corn syrup from GE corn) do not require disclosure as long as the refining process is \u201cvalidated\u201d by USDA.<\/p>\n

CFS\u2019s lawsuit challenged USDA on all of these aspects. \u201cAmericans deserve nothing less than clear on-package labeling, the way food has always been labeled,\u201d said CFS legal director George Kimbrell. \u201cAllowing companies to hide genetically engineered ingredients behind a website or QR code is discriminatory and unworkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court victory requires USDA to revise portions of its rules implementing GE disclosure, removing the option to use QR codes on the package, and adding an additional disclosure option that is accessible to all Americans. However, the court is continuing to permit USDA to use the unfamiliar term \u201cbioengineered.\u201d It also took no action on USDA\u2019s loopholes for \u201chighly refined\u201d products. CFS indicates it is not ruling out an appeal on those unaddressed issues.<\/p>\n

“We are very gratified that the District Court has acknowledged the flawed nature of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard and has removed at least one of the very egregious aspects of it from the labeling standard,” said Mark Squire, co-owner and manager of Good Earth Natural Foods. “We will continue to fight for complete honesty and transparency in food labeling.”<\/p>\n

Lax regulations are permitting more and more GE foods in the aisles of American supermarkets. Just recently, USDA approved a GE purple tomato<\/a>, an unnecessary invention that adds pigments widely found in other fruits and vegetables. Yet most concerning among GE crops are those developed to withstand repeated spraying with highly hazardous pesticides. Not only are these crops likely to contain higher levels of toxic chemicals that threaten public health, but they also result in indirect damage to wildlife, water quality, and the wider environment.<\/p>\n

Beyond Pesticides has long maintained that consumers should be able to discern whether the products they purchase are putting themselves or the local community where the crops were grown at risk. For more information on GE agriculture and the decades long fight for GE labeling transparency, see Beyond Pesticides’ Genetic Engineering program page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: Center for Food Safety press release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides, September 20, 2022) A federal court this month declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully in allowing food retailers to label genetically engineered (GE, or GMO) foods with only a \u201cQR\u201d code. The decision, made by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as a result of a lawsuit against USDA by a coalition of nonprofits led by Center for Food Safety, along with organic retailers Natural Grocers and Puget Consumers Co-op. “This is a win for the American family. They can now make fully informed shopping decisions instead of being forced to use detective work to understand what food labels are hiding,” said Alan Lewis, Vice President for Advocacy and Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. “The public’s rejection of hidden GMOs has been weighed by the Court to be greater than the agrochemical industry’s desire to hide GMOs behind incomprehensible bureaucratic rules.” In 2016, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards Act, which established federal standards around labeling GE foods. That bill, dubbed by GE transparency advocates as the DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act, was the result of a deal between U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MO) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,5,309,62,1,368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-genetic-engineering","category-labeling","category-litigation","category-uncategorized","category-us-department-of-agriculture-usda"],"yoast_head":"\nNot Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, September 20, 2022) A federal court this month declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully in allowing food retailers to label genetically engineered (GE, or GMO) foods with only a \u201cQR\u201d code. The decision, made by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as a result of a lawsuit against USDA by a coalition of nonprofits led by Center for Food Safety, along with organic retailers Natural Grocers and Puget Consumers Co-op. “This is a win for the American family. They can now make fully informed shopping decisions instead of being forced to use detective work to understand what food labels are hiding,” said Alan Lewis, Vice President for Advocacy and Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. “The public’s rejection of hidden GMOs has been weighed by the Court to be greater than the agrochemical industry’s desire to hide GMOs behind incomprehensible bureaucratic rules.” In 2016, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards Act, which established federal standards around labeling GE foods. That bill, dubbed by GE transparency advocates as the DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act, was the result of a deal between U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MO) and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\"},\"headline\":\"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\"},\"wordCount\":1007,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg\",\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"Agriculture\",\"1\":\"Genetic Engineering\",\"2\":\"Labeling\",\"3\":\"Litigation\",\"5\":\"US Department of Agriculture (USDA)\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\",\"name\":\"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":320},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"description\":\"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2501,\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"description\":\"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","og_description":"(Beyond Pesticides, September 20, 2022) A federal court this month declared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acted unlawfully in allowing food retailers to label genetically engineered (GE, or GMO) foods with only a \u201cQR\u201d code. The decision, made by U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as a result of a lawsuit against USDA by a coalition of nonprofits led by Center for Food Safety, along with organic retailers Natural Grocers and Puget Consumers Co-op. “This is a win for the American family. They can now make fully informed shopping decisions instead of being forced to use detective work to understand what food labels are hiding,” said Alan Lewis, Vice President for Advocacy and Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. “The public’s rejection of hidden GMOs has been weighed by the Court to be greater than the agrochemical industry’s desire to hide GMOs behind incomprehensible bureaucratic rules.” In 2016, Congress passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards Act, which established federal standards around labeling GE foods. That bill, dubbed by GE transparency advocates as the DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act, was the result of a deal between U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MO) and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/","og_site_name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","article_published_time":"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beyond Pesticides","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_site":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beyond Pesticides","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/"},"author":{"name":"Beyond Pesticides","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4"},"headline":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients","datePublished":"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/"},"wordCount":1007,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg","articleSection":{"0":"Agriculture","1":"Genetic Engineering","2":"Labeling","3":"Litigation","5":"US Department of Agriculture (USDA)"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/","name":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-20T04:01:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BabyFood.2.HeavyMetals.jpg","width":640,"height":320},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/09\/not-accessible-to-all-court-finds-qr-codes-unlawful-as-means-of-disclosing-genetically-engineered-food-ingredients\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Not Accessible to All, Court Finds QR Codes Unlawful as Means of Disclosing Genetically Engineered Food Ingredients"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","description":"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization","name":"Beyond Pesticides","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2501,"caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4","name":"Beyond Pesticides","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"description":"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31643"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31647,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643\/revisions\/31647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}