The Vermont House overwhelmingly passed a law requiring labels on food made with genetically engineered ingredients and sent it to the governor, who is expected to sign it. “The bill’s passage is seen as a major rebuke to companies like Monsanto Company, DuPont Co. and Syngenta AG, which are embroiled in an international public-relations battle to defend the controversial bioengineering technologies behind their GMO seeds” said the International Business Times.
It would be the first state labeling law in the nation and would become effective July 1, 2016. Connecticut and Maine have labeling laws but they come into play only if neighbors adopt similar legislation. The food industry is expected to challenge the Vermont law in court. Bills going in opposite directions – to require labeling and to make it voluntary – are pending in Congress.