The House of Representatives last week approved a bill, the so-called Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, which will halt state efforts to label genetically modified foods as such.
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It’s disappointing that Zinke tried to put a pro-consumer spin on his vote.
So far, Vermont is the only state set to require the labels.
In the statement, the group thanked U.S. Reps. Our rights have been trampled on, and you have the right to know who has bought in this recent landslide vote in favor of the biotech industry and business as usual that protects profits instead of people.
As Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for EWG said, “This House was bought and paid for by corporate interests, so it’s no surprise that it passed a bill to block states and the FDA from giving consumers basic information about their food”. On average across all five years of the study, 60 percent of Vermonters reported being opposed to the use of GMO technology in food production and 89 percent desire labeling of food products containing GMO ingredients.
To be sure, it would be a headache for national businesses to comply with a variety of state standards. That would allow consumers to shop with confidence.
This bill was backed by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Monsanto. Opponents of the bill, including environmental and food activists and liberal Democrats, argue that it would deny people the right to know what is in their food. To require labeling of all GMOs, he said, would be to ignore this scientific consensus. Vermont has a labeling law scheduled to take effect next year.
In addition, some language in the bill may stop local and state governments from having any control over GMO crops.
Really – we label everything from pillows with warning labels – “this tag not to be removed” to our trousers.
This bill’s absurdity is enormous: Although proponents say voluntary labeling is the solution, no companies have voluntarily opted to label their foods as GE. GMO seeds, for example, can be Roundup resistant, so farmers can use that herbicide to kill weeds without harming the corn crop. That process is now voluntary for most modified foods. With this bill, Zinke and 274 other representatives, including Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said they have no right to know about GMOs.
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According to polls, even Americans who are OK with GMO foods, tend to support disclosure. Organic foods would be automatically certified, since they are already required to be free of engineered ingredients. Congress isn’t likely to change that.
