House and Senate sponsors announced a new drive in Congress to require labels on food made with genetically modified organisms. “Consumers have a right to know what is in the foods they eat,” said California Sen. Barbara Boxer, one of the lead sponsors of the legislation. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, the lead sponsor in the House, said, “If food manufacturers stand by their product and the technology they use to make it, they should have no problem disclosing that information to consumers.” At present, labeling is voluntary.
In the coming weeks, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo plans to file a bill to pre-empt state labeling laws and to keep labeling voluntary on the national level. “There is no question that GMO crops are both safe and necessary for the future of our planet,” Pompeo said in a response to the Boxer-DeFazio bills.
Both sides in the labeling debate say a national solution is needed after several years of rising prominence for the issue. Vermont has a labeling law scheduled to take effect in July 2016 if it survives an ongoing court challenge. For three years in a row, labeling referendums have been defeated in western states by ever-closer margins. Boxer, DeFazio and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal unveiled their bills at the end of a week of lobbying by a group of farmers who support labeling.