With committee action possible later this month, activists are amping up their efforts to sway Senate votes on GMO food labeling, says Carey Gillam of Reuters. The Grocery Manufacturers Association seeks passage of legislation to pre-empt state labeling laws and keep labeling voluntary on the federal level. A GMA spokesman told Reuters, “We need to get this resolved before the end of the year.” Vermont’s first-in-the-nation labeling law is scheduled to take effect on July 1. GMA says labeling will be costly and misleading.
California business owner David Bronner, a leading advocate of GMO labeling, says he purchased $250,000 in advertising space in national publications that include The New Yorker, Forbes and The Nation to argue for labeling. Bronner has spent more than $2 million to promote state labeling laws. The Just Label It campaign says it has gathered 50,000 signatures from consumers in support of mandatory labeling.
The House passed a state pre-emption bill, HR 1599, by a landslide vote, 275-150, on July 23. The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to take up the issue late this month, said Reuters.