The debate over GMO labeling is expected to shift to Congress this year. The vehicle for GMO supporters is expected to be a bill sponsored by Kansas Rep Mike Pompeo to pre-empt state labeling laws and to keep labeling voluntary at the federal level. Farm groups say GMO crops are safe and that opponents play on consumer fears. Last May, Vermont enacted a labeling law, to take effect in July 2016, while in November voters in Oregon narrowly defeated a GMO labeling referendum. Colorado also held a labeling referendum and it lost 2-to-1.
In a list of issues for congressional action, Stallman also said, “We need to push for a real solution on immigration reform – one that provides a reliable and legal workforce for America’s farms and ranches.” By some estimates, half of U.S. farm workers are undocumented.
Stallman said a proposal by the EPA to define the upstream reach of clean water laws was regulatory over-reach that would label as “waters of the United States” “vast numbers of small, isolated wetlands, ponds, and, yes, ditches. What they really want to do is take away your control over how you use your land.” The Farm Bureau is a leader in a rural campaign to “ditch this rule.” Republican lawmakers say they will try to pass legislation to prevent EPA from enacting the rule.
Text of Stallman’s speech is available here.
–-Reporting by Chuck Abbott