Late last night, the U.S. Senate agreed to a bill that sets a standard for labels on genetically-modified food.
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Republican Mark Kirk voted in favor of the bill, Democrat Dick Durbin voted no. However, his motion failed 30-63.
Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of biotech organization BIO, said time was of the essence: “BIO urges the House of Representatives to take up and pass this bill without further modification next week so that it can be sent to President Obama for his signature before the Congress adjourns for the summer recess”.
The debate over whether food companies should be required to label products containing genetically modified ingredients took an important turn this month when the nation’s first labeling law took effect in Vermont.
“Regardless of your position on GMOs”, said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who cosponsored the bill with Sen. They want labels to clearly print the disclosure without requiring smartphones. The bill would preempt any state laws, such as one now in Vermont, and would establish the first national standard for how consumers are informed about controversial ingredients. “A national standard for GMO labeling is essential if we are to avoid the economic costs incurred by a patchwork of differing state laws”.
“What about California? What about my state of North Carolina, all the other ones?” The bill would force food companies nationwide to disclose genetically modified ingredients in their products, but opponents have complained it’s toothless because it imposes no penalties for noncompliance and seems to exempt a variety of genetically engineered foods.
NPR reported that food companies also opposed GMO labels, believing that consumers may incorrectly interpret the labeled food as unsafe to eat.
The Agriculture Department would have two years to write the rules.
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The association was part of the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food, which lobbied for what labeling supporters termed the Deny Americans the Right to Know, or DARK Act, that would have made labeling voluntary. “The idea that people would need to walk around the grocery store scanning product codes just to find out what’s in the food they’re buying is ridiculous and unfair, ” said Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), according to The Hill.
