The Senate faces “what may well be our last chance” to block states from requiring special labels on foods made with genetically modified foods, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, opening the way to a vote on Wednesday on a revised pre-emption bill intended to appeal to farm-state Democrats.
The new version, the result of negotiations by Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts, would keep labeling voluntary at the national level, with the threat of becoming mandatory in the future if food makers decide not to disclose ingredients.
Importantly for food makers, who adamantly oppose putting with words “made with GMOs” on packages, the bill would allow them to use a “scannable image, code or similar technology” to provide the information. The food industry launched a similar, and voluntary, SmartLabel program last December.
Voluntary labeling would become mandatory if the USDA decides after two years that fewer than 70 percent of products are labeled.
“This will be one of the most important policy decisions for agriculture in recent decades,” said Roberts, who said the new bill balanced the consumers’ right to know with a uniform standard nationwide. “Farmers and food producers deserve certainty. This legislation does that.”
Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota suggested the voluntary/mandatory hybrid during Agriculture Committee debate on March 1, but dropped the idea. They voted for Roberts’ initial plan, a straightforward pre-emption of state law. Along with Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who expressed unease at the override of state power, they said Roberts would have to modify his bill to win Senate passage.
With the Senate facing an informal deadline for action this week, McConnell filed a cloture motion, necessary to prevent a filibuster, which will lead to a vote on Wednesday. Sixty votes are needed for passage. If it succeeds, the bill could be passed quickly.
“With cooperation from across the aisle, we can take action on a bipartisan basis here in the Senate,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. The House passed a pre-emption bill last summer that would keep labeling voluntary nationwide. The bills would have to be reconciled before Congress could send a bill to the president, assuming the Senate bill succeeds.
When the Senate convened, Democratic Leader Harry Reid said consumers have the right to know what is in their food. “They deserve clear standards [with] required disclosure of what’s in their food,” he said. Voluntary disclosure leaves consumers in the dark, “and that’s the wrong way to go.”
Republicans leaders may need 10 Democrats to vote with them on a GMO bill since they cannot be assured all 54 of their senators will vote for pre-emption, said Politico: “The pressure is undoubtedly on all ag-state Democrats.”
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation labeling law takes effect July 1. The food-and-farm sector adamantly opposes labels on food packages as an attempt to smear GMOs, and a step toward derailing agricultural biotechnology, said Chuck Connor of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in an essay published in The Hill newspaper. Connor said the food industry’s voluntary SmartLabel, which utilizes QR codes, toll-free telephone numbers and websites, is “a modern way” to provide information about products.
Labeling proponents say the SmartLabel, built around digital disclosure, discriminates against the elderly and the poor. It is simpler to put a label on the package as part of a consumers’ right to know, they say.