President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that will require labeling of genetically modified ingredients for the first time. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) expressed hope that “we can continue our work, now at the federal level, to advocate for improvements that will include simple, uniform GMO labeling”.
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That victory was short lasting, though, because just as the Vermont law went into effect, Congress swooped in to save the corporations from the people.
In the United States, genetic engineering in agriculture is mostly used to grow soybean and corn crops, which are then fed to livestock. Carmona said the potential health and environmental impacts of pesticide use in GMO farming is a bigger focus of hers than GMO food labeling.
Food Marketing Institute (FMI) is also confident the legislation will help circumvent further consumer confusion on the already misunderstood and complex topic of GMOs. Instead, the food- and bio-lobby-approved law allows companies to avoid printing any reference to GMOs on packaging, as long as they include QR codes – those small, pixelated black-and-white boxes created to be scanned by smartphones – or the URL of the food company.
Amherst Rep. Ellen Story, in a statement released by MassPIRG, said the new federal law, which establishes a National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, “sabotages the efforts that states were attempting on their own”.
They point out that the Roberts-Stabenow law doesn’t actually require food companies to label products that contain GMOs.
The USDA has two years to develop regulations to implement it.
Despite the adoption of S. 764, several lawmakers, including U.S. Sen.
It’s unclear whether the law will apply to genetically engineered high fructose corn syrup and other processed food, according to an analysis by PolitiFact. Those that contain GMO ingredients are required to have a symbol, a text label or electronic code that can be read by smartphone scanners to identify them as such.
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“This is not a labeling bill; it is a non-labeling bill”, Kimbrell wrote in a statement to Mother Jones.
