When Congress passed the GMOs-in-food disclosure bill a week ago, the White House said President Obama would sign it. The bill, which reverses a longstanding federal policy that labels are not needed, is likely to be treated matter of factly, to be marked by a written notice rather than the pubic signing ceremony given to major legislation.
Some pro-labeling groups continue to call for a veto, unlikely given that a White House spokeswoman has said, “The president wlll sign the bill.” Others, such as Environmental Working Group, are asking a handful of foodmakers to continue using “Made with GMO” labels on their products. The GMO disclosure bill allows processors to use a digital code or a symbol as well as wording on the package. While the bill would pre-empt immediately Vermont’s GMO food-label law, it gives USDA two years to design and implement the labeling system.
“This is not the first time federal lawmakers have pre-empted state laws in the food policy arena,” said the Food and Power newsletter, citing a 2012 Supreme Court decision that struck down a California law for humane slaughter of cattle. “Reformers say corporations are increasingly turning to federal pre-emption to overturn state laws they don’t like.”
The food industry spent tens of millions of dollars in opposing GMO labeling laws. Along with farm groups, the industry said the laws would smear a technology that produces safe food. GMO crops came into cultivation two decades ago. In the end, they decided that pre-emption of state laws, to prevent a web of conflicting rules on labeling, was more important than the disclosure of ingredients. The authors of the bill, Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Debbie Stabenow, say the bill covers thousands of more products than the Vermont law. Critics say the bill is written so laxly that many genetically engineered foods will escape labeling.
GMO crops are grown on half of U.S. cropland. Almost all of the corn, soybeans, sugar beets and canola grown in the United States comes from GMO seeds so almost all of the processed food sold in supermarkets contains GMO ingredients.
Congressional staff workers transmitted the bill, S 764, to the White House on Tuesday.