Two competing federal bills are working their way through Congress that would override the mishmash of state-by-state GMO labeling laws. One of the bills would enact mandatory labeling, whereas the other would make it voluntary.
The mandatory labeling bill is supported by Just Label It, a coalition of food companies — such as Chipotle, Stonyfield, and Ben & Jerry’s — with marketing focused on the health and wholesomeness of their products.
More than 60 countries have passed mandatory labeling laws, Gary Hirschberg, founder of the yogurt company Stonyfield Farm and Just Label It, told BuzzFeed News. “We want to join the rest of the world in helping consumers know whether GM ingredients are present.”
The label lobby seems to be moving away — at least when talking to journalists — from the position that GMOs are dangerous, a point that’s tough to argue when 88 percent of scientists think eating GMO food is perfectly safe. No studies have ever shown the crops to be more harmful than eating the traditional product.
“Our position is not that GMOs are good, bad, or otherwise,” Hirshberg said. “We label lots of things, not because of safety concerns, but because people want to know.”
For example, the FDA already mandates a number of labels that don’t relate to safety, such as those noting that orange juice is “from concentrate” or made of X percent juice.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: The Very Weird Political Battle Over GMO Labels
