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New Bill Would Require National GMO Labeling
USAgNet - 06/24/2016

After more than a year of negotiations, Senators have reached a bipartisan deal regarding genetically modified ingredients. On Thursday, Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas announced legislation that will require the labeling of GMOs nationally. The legislation will be more lenient than a mandate slated to go into effect in Vermont July 1. Vermont's law would require products with biotech ingredients to be labeled as produced or partially produced with genetic engineering.

Under the Roberts-Stabenow deal, that text would be optional: "Companies could instead use a symbol or an electronic label accessed by smartphone," reports the Associated Press.

In a statement, Roberts said the legislation will protect producers and inform consumers.

"Unless we act now, Vermont law denigrating biotechnology and causing confusion in the marketplace is the law of the land," said Roberts. "Our marketplace--both consumers and producers--needs a national biotechnology standard to avoid chaos in interstate commerce."

Among the bill's key provisions is that it essentially preempts Vermont's law from being enacted altogether. As it reads, the Roberts-Stabenow legislation will "immediately prohibit states or other entities from mandating labels of food or seed that is genetically engineered. "

Though it mandates a "national standard" for GMO labeling, the requirements are lax. As it is written, the bill would allow companies to select almost any method to disclose the use of GMOs in a product--including QR codes, 800-numbers, websites, and, of course, on-pack labeling. Which begs the question, what company is going to label its product "Warning: Contains GMOs" when it could just slap a QR code or 800-number on the package instead?

Additionally, the Roberts-Stabenow bill will exempt any type of meat product: "Foods where meat, poultry, and egg products are the main ingredient are exempted. The legislation prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture from considering any food product derived from an animal to be bioengineered solely because the animal may have eaten bioengineered feed."

According to OpenSecrets, agriculture was one of the top five industries to contribute to Roberts' campaigns in recent years. Crop production was one of the top five to contribute to Stabenow's campaigns. So it's perhaps unsurprising that groups such as the American Soybean Association have expressed their support of the duo's measure.

In a press release, the group said the bill would "remove the stigmatization that comes with explicit language on products." That's because, according to ASA first vice president Ron Moore, consumers "react negatively when presented with a product containing a warning label." Moore was quoted in the ASA's release as saying stricter GMO labels would result in more expensive food. "If consumers panic and run from these products based on false stigmatization, companies are forced to reformulate away from this safe and affordable technology."

The Center for Food Safety called the bill a "blow to to the food movement and America's right to know" in a press release sent out Thursday afternoon. Executive Director Andrew Kimbrell went so far as to say it was,"in many ways worse than prior iterations of the DARK Act that were defeated - it is a blank check for biotech."


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