The House Agriculture Committee, a stronghold for conventional agriculture, will act first in Congress to prevent states from requiring labels on food made with genetically modified organisms. Chairman Mike Conaway called a committee meeting for Tuesday to approve HR 1599, which pre-empts state labeling, keeps labeling voluntary on the federal level and puts the USDA in charge of certifying if foods are non-GMO. Foodmakers would pay a fee for the USDA process-verified certification.
Ten of the committee’s 45 members are sponsors of HR 1599. While not a sponsor, Conaway, of Texas, has spoken against state labeling and says “national uniformity is essential when making claims for agricultural products – including those grown using the latest advances in biotechnology.” Rodney Davis of Illinois, chairman of the Agriculture subcommittee that held a June 25 hearing on the bill, called for a “national, uniform and voluntary marketing approach,” but he is not listed as a sponsor of HR 1599, filed by Mike Pompeo, of Kansas. The bill has 65 sponsors.
The debate over GMO labeling moved to Congress this year following enactment of Vermont’s first-in-the-nation labeling law, set to take effect next July 1, and a three-year series of expensive and ever-closer state-wide referendums in the West on GMO labeling. The 2014 Oregon referendum on labeling failed by 837 votes out of 1.5 million cast.
Proponents have been working on an update to Pompeo’s bill that increases the USDA’s role. The pre-emption bill is backed by farm groups and the food industry. They say GMO foods are safe and food prices for a family could rise by $500 a year if label rules vary from state to state. Labeling advocates such as the Just Label It campaign say the benefits of GMO crops are overstated and that consumers have a right to know about what’s in the food they eat.
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has said he expects to advance HR 1599 in his committee this summer. There is currently no Senate companion bill.
To read a McClatchy story that surveys arguments for and against labeling and provides background on the issue, click here.