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Senate Leaders Reach Agreement On National GMO Labeling

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Last updated on July 11th, 2016 at 08:08 am

One week before Vermont’s mandatory GMO (genetically modified organism) labeling law is scheduled to go into effect, Senate legislators have reached a bipartisan agreement on a national labeling standard spearheaded by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). While this deal still requires packaged foods containing GMOs to be labeled, it provides retailers and manufacturers with more flexibility than Vermont’s law. Under the agreement, food companies can label GMO products with a text label, a symbol or an electronic label, such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s (GMA) SmartLabel.

Despite the Senate’s efforts, the agreement can’t become a law before Vermont’s July 1 deadline because the House is on vacation until July 5. Earlier this year, the Senate stalled legislation passed in the House that would have created a voluntary labeling standard rather than a mandatory one.

Many industry organizations have been quick to express their support for the bill, while a number of consumer organizations have expressed disappointment.

National Grocers Association (NGA) President and CEO Peter J. Larkin said, “NGA appreciates the leadership and bipartisan work done by Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow to reach an agreement that provides a national uniform labeling standard for foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. Operating under a patchwork of state labeling laws is inefficient and unworkable, only creating major logistical complications for food distributors and consumer confusion in the marketplace. We strongly urge the Senate to immediately pass this measure.”

Pamela G. Bailey, president and CEO of the GMA, and Charles F. Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and the co-chairs of the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, released the following statement. “This is the solution needed for the entire food chain in our nation from farm to fork: consumers, farmers, food producers, manufacturers, retailers and small businesses. Chairman Roberts and Senator Stabenow demonstrated real leadership by coming together on a bipartisan agreement that provides certainty to consumers and protects our national food chain from the costly negative impacts of Vermont’s on-package labeling mandate. By offering increased transparency and disclosure in a clear and consistent manner, this legislation will ensure consumers who want to learn more about the products they buy have the ability to do so.

“The bipartisan Senate agreement is welcome news for farmers, consumers and food manufacturers across the United States. This solution increases consumer access to additional product information without stigmatizing a safe, proven technology that is relied on by American farmers. While Vermont’s GMO on-package labeling mandate is set to take effect on July 1, we remain confident that, with today’s Senate agreement, a national solution can be passed into law by Congress before the negative impacts of Vermont’s law become pervasive. ”

In response to the Senate’s decision to allow QR code labeling, Bailey added, “GMA members are committed to making available the product information that consumers want. We are pleased to see that the legislation enables transparency, clarity and consistency in disclosure and reflects the wide variety of ways that consumers will get this information about the foods they buy.

“The disclosure requirement in the Senate legislation is consistent with the new reality: shoppers want more information about their food than is ever possible to provide on a label. That’s why GMA created the innovative SmartLabel technology initiative.

“SmartLabel will put detailed information right at the fingertips of consumers about thousands of products so they can find what they want to know—and when they want to know it. The industry is committed to providing that information through SmartLabel and to updating it quickly. SmartLabel leverages digital technology and smart devices to bring consumers information about hundreds of product attributes. It enables them to get much more information than ever before.

“Consumers can access SmartLabel at home or on the go while making their shopping list—and when they are in the store. It can enable them to learn more about how their food is produced, how animals are treated and how fish was caught—more information than can fit on a package label.”

Added Food Marketing Institute (FMI) President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin, “FMI commends the bipartisan Roberts-Stabenow agreement on biotechnology labeling and hopes that all senators will vote in favor of the compromise. A national standard for GMO labeling is essential if we are to avoid the economic costs incurred by a patchwork of differing state laws. By preventing this patchwork, the Roberts-Stabenow agreement will avoid greater consumer confusion, allow efficiency, and enable the industry to proceed in a more orderly and reasonable fashion to provide consumers the information they want. We and the 800 other Coalition for Safe Affordable Food member organizations nationwide stand ready to do all we can to work for rapid passage of the agreement.

“The House of Representatives has already adjourned until July 5, after the Vermont law goes into effect, but swift action by both chambers will prevent unnecessary confusion for consumers and the many stakeholders throughout the food supply chain.”

On the other side of the aisle, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) came out against the agreement, citing the potential for consumer confusion over the various labeling methods.

“Today, Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) reached a deal that tramples on the rights of consumers, and the rights of states like Vermont to protect their own citizens. Instead, the Senate appears poised to pass a bill clearly intended to serve the interests of Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association,” said Ronnie Cummins, international director of OCA.

“The anti-consumer bill unveiled by Stabenow and Roberts, bought and paid for by Big Food corporations, nullifies Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law, and replaces it with a law that replaces the requirement for clear, on-package labels, with a convoluted, inconvenient and discriminatory scheme involving barcodes and 1-800 numbers.

“The proposed bill also gives food corporations another two years before they are even required to pretend to provide consumers with any information at all about the GMO ingredients in their products. Stabenow and Roberts are determined to preempt Vermont’s law, even though major food corporations such as General Mills, Campbell’s, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Mars, Kellogg’s, ConAgra are already labeling, to comply with Vermont’s July 1 deadline for labeling.

“This pandering to industry is inexcusable, especially when consumers in 64 other countries have the right to know whether or not their food contains GMOs. We will enlist our more than two million supporters to help us keep this bill from getting the required 60 votes in the Senate, and if we have to, we will take this battle all the way to the oval office, and if necessary, launch a national boycott of all foods that are not organic, grass-fed or labeled non-GMO.”

About the author

Alissa Marchat

Alissa was Staff Writer at The Shelby Report.

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