Bill to unify US GMO labeling passes committee

Every ag organization in the US that believes in and supports conventional agriculture seemed to weigh in as happy as could be about yesterday’s House Agriculture Committee’s approval of H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. The legislation will provide clarity and stability in the marketplace through national uniformity regarding marketing claims for products grown using the latest agricultural production technologies.

Now that the House Agriculture Committee has officially approved what we’ve dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know – or DARK Act – it could be coming up for a vote in the full House ANY DAY NOW.

The bill was first introduced by Reps.

Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, also cited concerns regarding different laws in different states, suggesting such policy “interferes with the free flow of goods across the country”. “This… legislation will ensure that Americans have accurate, consistent information about their food rather than a 50 state patchwork of labeling laws that will only prove costly and confusing for consumers, farmers and food manufacturers”, said Pamela Bailey, CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), said in a statement.

The decision is a major victory for USA food companies and other opponents of labeling genetically modified foods.

“Consumers increasingly want to know more about where their food comes from and how it is produced. I think H.R. 1599 satisfies that demand while also recognizing what we know about the safety of the foods that our farmers produce”, said House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn. “Without a national standard, we risk the spread of misinformation and increased food costs”. The act would not allow each state in the union to write conflicting GMO-labeling requirements.

Companies that wished to tout the fact that their products do not contain GMOs, such as with a “GMO-Free” label, would still be able to do so if the bill passed.

Other lawmakers and consumer groups, such as the Center for Food Safety and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), disagree.