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Combatants in a national food fight over labeling genetically modified products are gearing up for a showdown in the U.S. Senate.
“I feel like we’re in the final battle now,” said David Bronner, a California business owner and leading backer of mandatory labeling for foods made with genetically engineered crops, also known as GMOs.
Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, said in a phone interview he has purchased $250,000 in advertising space in several national publications to identify what GMO critics see as concerns about GMO crops, and to challenge what he called a “smokescreen” promoted by corporations and others who say GMOs and the pesticides used on them are safe.
Bronner has already spent well over $2 million on efforts to pass GMO labeling laws in several states. His new ad buy includes advertorials in The New Yorker, The Nation, Forbes and other publications.
Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Vice President Michael Gruber said a U.S Senate agriculture committee is expected to take up the issue in late September. The association wants to see the Senate approve a measure like the one passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July that creates a national, voluntary standard for labeling and blocks mandatory GMO labeling, including pre-empting a state labeling law set to take effect next year in Vermont.
“This issue is a five-alarm fire for our industry,” Gruber said in a phone interview. “We need to get this resolved before the end of the year.”
Read full, original post: Battle lines drawn as U.S. legislative fight over labeling looms
