The Oregon referendum on labeling food made with genetically modified organisms, while a defeat, was the closest vote yet on the idea, which has gone to a vote in different states for three years in a row. Proponents and opponents say the expensive and splashy elections will lead to a national debate.
“We will continue to explore policies that represent a national solution and provide consumers with information about the foods we eat,” said the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which is part of a coalition that says the federal government should pre-empt states on GMO labeling and mandate labels only if there is a health, safety or nutrition issue.
BIO said approval by Maui County, Hawaii, of a moratorium on GMO crops was a vote against “innovative farming solutions,” adding, “we will continue to defend our industry…from baseless political claims that forbid science and eliminate farmer choice.”
The Just Label It organization said the Oregon result “only strengthens our resolve to fight for the consumers’ right to know what’s in their food. Now the fight will shift to the nation’s capital where the same food companies who were fighting the right to know will be seeking to block state laws and make it harder for FDA to craft a national mandatory disclosure system.”
Congress is unlikely to act this year on bills that take both sides of the debate – to require labeling, such as HR 1699, sponsored by Rep Peter DeFazio, Oregon Democrat, or to bar states from mandating the labels, such as HR 4432, sponsored by Rep Mike Pompeo, Kansas Republican.
According to unofficial results, Oregon’s Measure 92 lost by 0.6 percentage points, a much narrower margin than 2.2 points in Washington state in 2013 or 2.8 points in California in 2012. Coloradans defeated a GMO labeling proposal, Proposition 105, on Tuesday by a 2-to-1 margin. The margin in Oregon was 9,770 votes, said a running tally early today by the Secretary of State’s office.
“Even after the defeat, the food-labeling debate is far from over. Nearly 90 bills in 29 states addressing labeling have been introduced during 2014 alone,” said the Portland Oregonian. Vermont legislators passed a GMO labeling law this spring and due to take effect in 2016 if it survives a court challenge by the food industry.
Some $100 million was spent on the GMO referendums in Oregon, Washington state and California, said the Oregonian.
The New York Times quoted Marlene Schwartz of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale as saying the food industry spent heavily because “they know these policies have the potential to change consumer behavior.” Kelly Brownell of Duke University, a food authority, said the referendums on food reflected consumer interest in the “story” about what they eat. “They want to know where it came from, how far it was shipped, what was sprayed on it, and whether it was genetically modified — and they believe they have a right to know,” Brownell told the Times.