New bill would require genetically modified food labeling in US

New bill would require genetically modified food labeling in US








Major changes could be coming to American food labeling rules if a
new federal bill mandating that genetically modified ingredients be
disclosed is signed into law.


The new bill, known as the Genetically Engineered Food
Right-to-Know Act, was introduced on Wednesday by Sen. Barbara
Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and resembles previous
legislation that failed to garner sufficient support in
Congress.

However, the bill can already count on nine bipartisan Senate
co-sponsors, along with 22 cosponsors in the House. That wide base
of support may give the new legislation a better shot - not to
mention the fact that over 90 per cent of Americans already support
compulsory labeling of genetically modified foods.

According to an initial draft, the right-to-know bill is similar to
existing regulations in sixty-four other countries, including EU
members, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Brazil and India.

In the US, however, the biotechnology sector has spent a
significant amount of money in hopes of defeating GMO labeling
efforts. California’s Proposition 37, for example, was defeated in
November 2012 after companies such as Monsanto and The Hershey Co.
outspent supporters of such labeling $44 million to $7.3
million.

Nationwide, food labeling can vary by US state, the best example of
which might be the use of bovine growth hormone (also known as rBGH
or rBST). That genetically modified ingredient, which is banned in
many countries, is widely used in American dairy production, and
states such as Pennsylvania currently prohibit “rBST-free” milk labeling in favor of
disclaimers such as: "No
significant difference has been shown between milk derived from
rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows."

Senator DeFazio, one of the co-sponsors of the new bill, has
been growing organic produce for 40 years. In comments made to The
Huffington Post, he stated that consumers had the right to decide
for themselves whether to purchase and consume organisms that were
created only in recent decades.
"Even the most ardent free market
advocate, someone who's a devout follower of Adam Smith, would have
to admit that consumers aren't being given full information right
now," he said."Depriving
them of the knowledge of whether or not this food has GMOs does not
support a free market."On Wednesday, representatives of the Biotechnology Industry
Organization and Monsanto reiterated that they generally opposed
mandatory GMO food labels.
"Unfortunately, advocates of
mandatory 'GMO labeling' are working an agenda to vilify
biotechnology and scare consumers away from safe and healthful food
products," BIO spokeswoman Karen Badt wrote to The Huffington
Post.President Obama had in 2007 pledged to require GMO food labeling
while campaigning, though critics point to the fact that, rather
than advancing the issue, his administration has reversed course
entirely by signing into law a provision derided by consumer groups
as the “Monsanto Protection Act" earlier this April.


Source:-
http://rt.com/usa/mandatory-gmo-food-labeling-417/