Chairman Roberts, on the other hand, said that this labeling issue “is really a conversation about a few states dictating to every state the way food moves from farmers to consumers in the value chain”.
Advertisement
However, the food industry-backed Coalition for Safe Affordable Food (CFSAF), which is supporting Senator Roberts’ voluntary GMO labeling bill, dismissed Sen Merkley’s bill as unworkable.
What’s more, major food corporations are forced to label GMOs in 60 other countries that have passed such requirements.
“We remain hopeful that the Senate will craft a national, mandatory GMO labeling system that provides consumers with basic factual information about their food”. The Merkley bill is the kind of common-sense solution consumers have been waiting for.
The attempts to preempt state labeling laws are not without controversy. Sen.
While scientific evidence shows that GMOs have no effect on a food’s health or nutritional profile, consumers are right to have concerns over the practices of the large-scale agricultural companies that produce them. Pat Roberts, R-KS, chairman of the panel, said a patchwork of state laws would be a “wrecking ball” that could be costly for agriculture, food companies and ultimately consumers. “A voluntary, streamlined approach that sets a new national labeling standard will reduce compliance costs without forcing companies to include – or not include – labeling information on the bioengineered content of their products”.
The bill’s supporters frame the debate as an economic one, arguing that mandatory labeling laws would drive up the price of food, and that such restriction would be a “nightmare” for the food industry. “We applaud Senator Jeff Merkley and his colleagues for responding to consumers’ desire for the information they seek in a consistent and transparent manner“.
“The version of the DARK Act that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee today would rob Americans of their right to know what’s in their food”. “The states stepped in to give the 9 out 10 people who say they want to know about GMO’s in their food”.
Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, said, “This is what real disclosure looks like”.
If a state wants to help consumers more easily identify those products as a way to differentiate them from the output of small, local, responsible food producers, then it should have that right.
This legislative proposal represents a uniform federal GM labeling standard with sufficient flexibility to suit manufacturing operations of various sizes and markets while also giving national manufacturers that are in compliance with the federal standard safe harbor from the potential patchwork of state laws, according to a statement from Merkley’s office.
Advertisement
“Now, our attention turns to the full Senate, and we will begin our press on senators from both parties to support this legislation”.
