The Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to limit debate on the Roberts-Stabenow GMO disclosure bill, a key test of support for pre-empting state GMO food-labeling laws and mandating nationwide disclosure of GMO ingredients in food. If the vote is successful, the Senate could move quickly to pass the bill.
In a twilight vote, senators agreed, 68-29, during a convoluted parliamentary process to consider the GMO bill and to set the Wednesday vote. “We’re not trying to trick anyone. We’re trying to get to the Roberts amendment,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during a rancorous moment of debate.
Backers of the GMO bill will need 60 votes to prevail in Wednesday’s test. “I”m pleased with the outcome of tonight’s procedural vote,” said Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts. “The Senate stood up for America’s farmers, ranchers, consumers and sound science. I look forward to the Senate acting next week.”
The farm and food industry group Coalition for Safe Affordable Food tweeted that the Senate vote “shows strong momentum” for the bill and “we look forward to a cloture vote & Senate passage of the bipartisan nati’l GMO disclosure solution!”
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law goes into effect tomorrow. The state will allow a six-month grace period for compliance.
Roberts negotiated with Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow for weeks on terms of the disclosure bill after losing a vote in March on his proposal to pre-empt state GMO labeling laws and keep labeling voluntary at the federal level. The new bill allows food companies to state in words on the label that the product is made with GMOs, to use a symbol denoting GMOs or to provide a digital link. Pro-labeling groups wanted wording on packages as the only way to notify consumers.
GMO labeling was a secondary topic when the House passed a pre-emption bill by a landslide margin a year ago. It turned into a surprisingly partisan issue when the Senate voted on March 16. All but three Democrats, joined by seven Republicans, voted against pre-emption. The bill failed on a 48-49 rollcall with 60 votes needed for passage, a sign of election-year gridlock.
In a three-page memo, the FDA said the Roberts-Stabenow bill encroaches on its jurisdiction as regulator of U.S. food safety aside from meat, which is USDA’s portfolio. And the bill tramples on the government standard that all food disclosures must be printed on packages, said the agency. “For example, under FDA’s provisions, information such as Nutrition Facts and the list of ingredients must be displayed directly on the label,” said the memo. Many packages also carry information such as the country of origin of the food.
FDA repeated its conclusion that GMO foods are safe and there is no reason to label them.
And like objections from organic food, environmental and consumer groups, FDA said the Roberts-Stabenow bill uses a narrow definition of genetic engineering that “will likely mean that many foods from GE sources will not be subject to this bill.”
Separately, more than 100 Nobel have signed a letter urging the environmental group Greenpeace to end its opposition to introduction of a genetically engineered rice strain with higher levels of Vitamin A, said the Washington Post. The group planned a news conference today in Washington to air its case. The Post quoted the letter as saying, “We urge Greenpeace and its supporters to re-examine the experience of farmers and consumers worldwide with crops and foods improved through biotechnology, recognize the findings of authoritative scientific bodies and regulatory agencies, and abandon their campaign against ‘GMOs’ in general and Golden Rice in particular.”