by Ben Nuelle
Thursday, the Senate Ag Committee will mark up legislation to eliminate the threat of patchwork of state GMO labeling laws from restricting commerce. Biotech labeling legislation will prevent individual states like Vermont from creating separate labeling requirements.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says if congress doesn?t act, food companies will be required to start switching labels for food shipped to distributors for retail sale on July 1st when this Vermont law goes into effect.
?We have laws such as the one passed in Vermont intended to disparage biotechnology. On the top of that, I am dismayed the ferment law provides exemptions of certain types of foods in restaurants. Additionally, the bill puts liability on food companies for errors that might be the fault of retailers,? Grassley says.
He says a patchwork of laws discouraging innovative technology and investments won?t help the United States feed and fuel a growing population.
?I?m going to support the chairman?s mark; Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas; which would preempt state labeling laws and authorize the Secretary of Agriculture set up a voluntary national labeling standard. I hope other members of the senate will come to their senses on this issue as well and then we can resolve this issue in a timely fashion,? Grassley says.
National Farmers Union released a statement Tuesday opposing the legislation says ?NFU also values consumer rights, including the ability of consumers to have access to as much pertinent information as they want to know about their food. We support mandatory labeling of foods derived from genetically engineered plants, although we do not have policy on what such labeling should look like. As such, NFU opposes the proposed GMO labeling bill in its current form.?
