The U.S. House voted 306-117 to adopt mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods in a compromise bill that would preempt state GE labeling laws, while allowing food companies flexibility in labeling their products.
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The bill supersedes a state labeling law that took effect July 1 in Vermont.
The bill leaves many labeling details to be determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including what percentage of genetically engineered ingredients a food needs to have to require a label. The USDA, which will oversee GMO labeling under the new law, has disagreed with that interpretation, but many say the definition of what requires labeling and what doesn’t will ultimately end up in court.
On Wednesday, the House voted 242-185 on a rules resolution that barred amendments to the bill, halting its return to the Senate for another vote.
There is no evidence that genetically-modified foods pose any particular danger to people.
Earlier this month, Vermont became the first state to require labeling of GMO foods.
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts – a Republican from Kansas and chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and co-author of the bill – called it “the most important food and agriculture policy debate of the last 20 years”.
“Today, Congress chose to favor the interests of the food industry over consumers’ right to know what’s in the food they eat and feed their families when the House approved the Senate’s version of the DARK Act”.
Critics of the bill said the QR code would make it much more hard for consumers to get the information. Welch on the House floor, before the legislation passed by a strong margin. “We applaud the House’s action in clearing this bill and sending it to President Obama”, said National Association of Wheat Growers President Gordon Stoner.
Minnesota’s large food and agriculture businesses previously advocated for a voluntary GMO labeling standard, but later supported the Senate’s compromise to avoid the possibility of 50 different standards in the 50 US states.
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The bill’s opponents made for odd political bedfellows – from the conservative Heritage Foundation who said the bill added “federal legitimacy” to the idea that GMOs aren’t safe, to the liberal Rev. Jesse Jackson who said the law presented “serious questions of discrimination”. “We urge him to see that this bill will inform consumers about the technologies which make their food safe and affordable, and we hope that he will sign it immediately”. “This legislation helps to continue those benefits by avoiding the confusion of differing and potentially misleading labeling standards from state to state”.
