The program will establish standards for selling or labeling a covered product as being GMO-free, or produced without use of genetic engineering.
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Roughly 80 percent of processed food products contain genetically modified ingredients.
“The vast majority of Americans believe that we all have a right to know what’s in our food and how it was grown”, said Just Label It chairman Gary Hirshberg.
Tufts University food industry expert Jim Tillotson says consumers who want Non-GMO products present food companies with a new marketing opportunity, similar to the “organic” and “natural” foods markets. There is an alternative to that highly paternalistic, federal pre-emptive, and regulatory expansive approach which is a far more direct, less politicized way of ensuring that the public is not mislead as to whether GMOs are in foods. Bain, the sociology professor, says her research shows that GMO labeling has become what social scientists call a “wicked problem,” one that is inherently contradictory and can’t be solved through scientific fact. Billed as offering “food, ideas and music”, the festival offers a chance to “learn a free burrito” after going through four exhibits.
Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, a group that opposed the bill, explains: “The bill that passed includes provisions that would preempt states from labeling GMOs or enforce already passed GMO labeling provisions (like Vermont’s Act 120), and would prohibit states from having any oversight of GMO crops, for example, a county-wide ban on growing GMOs or GMO-free zones in certain organic seed-producing areas”. Under that law, if a product containing a GMO were responsible for an adverse health effect, public health authorities would be hard pressed to find it as the causative agent.
What are SAFLA’s proponents saying? Although GMOs are touted as safe, there is virtually no limit on the kind of genetic manipulation that can be performed to alter the genome of plants and animals, and there are no human studies capable of proving GMOs safe beyond the near term. Advocates stand behind findings of numerous renowned, well-respected groups that have all found GMOs to be safe. They think the labels could keep hurt profits.
Without national legislation, a “patchwork” of state laws would increase prices, drive up food costs, and continue the rash of class action lawsuits now bombarding food manufacturers. “When only the label is considered, it has no impact on consumer opposition”.
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“It’s outrageous that some House lawmakers voted to ignore the wishes of nine out of 10 Americans”, said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for EWG. Rather than sound the alarm that the pesticide industry’s new 2,4 D herbicide-tolerant GMO crops were recently greenlighted for planting this spring by industry-friendly regulators, these journalists fail to even mention these same crops are destined for our dinner plates this fall. Stay tuned. Time will tell how both the judicial branch and legislative branch will react to last week’s passage in the House. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
