Four Senate Democrats proposed mandatory nationwide labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms as a substitute for state or local regulation. The legislation is an alternative to the bill approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee to pre-empt state labeling laws and let foodmakers decide whether to say if their products contain GMOs.
“Rather than blocking consumers’ access to information they want, the U.S. Senate should move forward with a solution that works for businesses and consumers alike,” said Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon in announcing the rival bill.
GMO legislation may be a difficult subject in the Senate, where 60 votes often are needed to assure passage. Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas told reporters he will need the support of several Democrats at a minimum. Republicans hold a 54-46 Senate majority. Three Democrats voted in committee for the Roberts bill, with two of them saying it needs modification before it can pass the Senate.
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO-labeling law takes effect July 1. The food industry is pushing for a speedy federal override of state law to preclude the potential of a welter of state and local regulation.
The Merkley bill gives food processors four options, such as the catch-all phrase “produced with genetic engineering” at the end of the list of ingredients, for disclosing GMOs; none of them requires notification on the front of the package. Merkley’s office said the bill would give consumers clear information about GMOs and give food companies a single standard to follow.
Farm and food-industry groups oppose mandatory labeling as unnecessary and a slur on GMO foods. Half of U.S. cropland is planted to GMO crops, chiefly corn and soybeans but also canola and sugar beets. As a result, most of the processed foods sold in U.S. grocery stores contain GMOs. Advocates say consumers have a right to know what is in their food.
Backers of the labeling bill include Campbell Soup Co., the first major food company to endorse mandatory GMO labeling, the Just Label It campaign, and Consumers Union. The food-industry group Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food told Food Navigator the Merkley bill “can’t pass, period,” and pointed to landslide House passage last summer of a pre-emption bill that would keep labeling voluntary on the federal level.
Co-sponsoring the bill with Merkley are Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Jon Tester of Montana and Dianne Feinstein of California. The four Democrats are members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing USDA and FDA.