Protesters disrupt Senate vote on genetically modified food

If this bill becomes law, the industry wins what are essentially voluntary requirements under this GMO labeling “compromise”, which does not mandate recalls, penalties or fines for noncompliance with the incredibly weak requirements of the bill that will likely leave many GMO ingredients exempt from any labeling requirements. Monsanto Company is a major agricultural corporation closely associated with the move to pioneer genetically modified organisms.

Roberts and Stabenow are reportedly pulling out all the lobbying stops to get the bill passed in the days before the Senate breaks for the summer. We make a range of high-quality soups and simple meals, beverages, snacks and packaged fresh foods.

They argue that the federal government shouldn’t run roughshod over a state’s rules, pre-empting Vermont’s law, and the federal requirements would not be consumer-friendly.

The federal law which the Senate will consider supersedes that law and bans all other state laws.

MASSPIRG and other groups that support GMO labeling say CT and ME have passed similar laws, but they include a trigger provision requiring MA or other Northeast states to pass similar bills before the laws can take effect. Bernie Sanders (I) and Patrick Leahy (D)-whose home state’s GMO labeling law would be preempted by the Senate bill-have criticized the legislation, saying that it doesn’t go far enough to require food makers to disclose GMO ingredients. “Our marketplace – both consumers and producers – needs a national biotechnology standard to avoid chaos in interstate commerce”. For generations, people have trusted Campbell to provide authentic, flavorful and readily available foods and beverages that connect them to each other, to warm memories and to what’s important today.

One objection is that the bill would transfer food labeling oversight to the Department of Agriculture, which traditionally weighs in only on the labeling of meats and eggs, but which supports the Roberts-Stabenow bill.

The food industry says about 75 percent to 80 percent of foods contain genetically modified ingredients – most of those corn and soy-based. A recent National Academy of Sciences study showed that GMO crops are safe to eat.

“The American people have a right to know what they’re eating”, Sanders said during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“With a vote for this so-called “compromise” bill, Congress would effectively be pulling transparent GMO labels from grocery stores, said Winona Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch”.