Posted July 20, 2014
The House
Agriculture Committee has approved a bill that would ban states from requiring
the labeling of genetically engineered (GMO) foods, according to an Agri-Pulse
article available here.
Food Safety News also published an article available here
and Reuters here.
The Safe
and Affordable Food Labeling Act (HR 1599), which was approved on a voice vote
in a 15-minute meeting, could be on the House floor as early as next week.
Opponents of the bill on the committee, led by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., did
not request a roll-call vote.
Companies
that wished to tout the fact that their products do not contain GMOs, such as
with a “GMO-Free” label, would still be able to do so if the bill passed. That
process would operate similarly to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic
certification, according to Food
Safety News.
Maine,
Connecticut and Vermont have already passed laws that would require foods
containing GMOs to be labeled, and GMO-labeling campaigns are underway in a
number of other states.
Groups
lobbying for mandatory GMO labeling said they are increasing their efforts to
make sure that H.R. 1599, dubbed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, never
becomes law, according to Reuters
"The
real fight will be in the Senate," said Scott Faber, executive director of
Just Label It, an advocacy group pushing for mandated labeling. "This is
from over."
They say
the bill is objectionable not only because it would overturn state GMO labeling
laws, but because it also prevents state and local governments from regulating
GMO crops, and would keep the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from creating a
mandatory GMO labeling standard.
"Those
states like mine, Maine, which has already passed a law that requires GMO
labeling... we would be prohibited from doing it," said U.S. Rep Chellie
Pingree, a GMO labeling supporter.
Opponents
say mandatory labeling would raise food prices, confuse consumers without cause
as GMOs are well regulated and are no less safe or nutritious than foods made
with non-GMO ingredients.
As much as
80 percent of packaged foods in grocery stores contains GMO ingredients,
according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which opposes GMO labeling,
according to Food
Safety News.
The House
is expected to vote on H.R. 1599 later this month.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
