As House votes on GMO pre-emption, Senate in spotlight
By all accounts, the Republican-controlled House will pass HR 1599 today to pre-empt states from requiring special labels on foods made with genetically modified organisms. Backed by foodmakers and farm groups, the bill will then go the Senate, where the idea has barely a toehold. No senator has agreed to sponsor the legislation and there have been no hearings on the subject.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group, says Sen. John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, has taken an interest in the bill. A spokesman fo Hoeven confirmed that “we are interested,” but with caveats. “At this point, it’s just not ready …. The senator believes it needs to have good bipartisan support for it to move.”
Backers hope a solid majority in the House will create an opening for action in the Senate. Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling bill takes effect next July 1. Foodmakers are pressing for a prompt decision by Congress to settle the issue, lest they have to begin the time-consuming job of revising labels.
“We’ll find out [today], do American consumers win or do Big Ag, big chemical companies win,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, when asked about his expectations for the House vote. DeFazio and other opponents of the bill pointed repeatedly during a news conference to a poll showing strong public support for labeling. Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard cited language in the bill that she said would override all types of local and state regulation of GMO crops. Some localities restrict plantings of the crops.
Besides pre-empting state laws, the House bill would keep labeling voluntary on the federal level and put the USDA in charge of certifying foods as non-GMO or made with GMOs.
“The House vote is a foregone conclusion,” said one environmentalist who opposed pre-emption. There is an undercurrent of speculation the the pre-emption plan will be added to a must-pass bill just before Congress adjourns in early winter. The White House is neutral on HR 1599.
While the House headed toward voluntary labeling, the Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to require labeling of genetically engineered salmon, if the FDA approves it for human consumption.
Overlooked in the squabble over state pre-emption are House and Senate bills that would make mandatory labeling of GMO foods a national policy. The bills, HR 913, backed by DeFazio in the House, and S 511, backed California Democrat Barbara Boxer in the Senate, have been stalled in committee since February.