U.S. House bans state food labeling laws in overwhelming vote

The bill prohibits state laws that make food producers disclose genetically modified organisms.

By Jim Spencer Star Tribune
JULY 23, 2015 — 1:47PM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ban state laws that force food makers to place labels on products that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The vote was 275-150.

The passage of the bill represented a huge victory for the food industry, including many of Minnesota’s major food companies, which had lobbied for the ban. The industry complained that individual state standards would lead to confusion and costly compliance. But many in the food business also said any kind of mandatory GMO labeling requirement — even a single federal standard — was unfair, because it suggested that GMOs are not as safe or healthy as conventional food.

Supporters of labeling decried the bill’s passage as a blow to consumer choice and a usurpation of states’ rights.

Three states — Vermont, Connecticut and Maine — have passed mandatory GMO labeling laws. GMO labeling initiatives are being considered in several other states, including Minnesota.

Vermont’s law, which has survived legal challenges by the food industry, is set to take affect in 2016. But if the bill passed Thursday by the House passes the Senate and is signed into law, that labeling requirement will be voided.

Inver Grove Heights-based CHS, Inc., welcomed the House decision.
“CHS applauds the House of Representatives for passing the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” said the company which paid lobbyists to push the bill’s passage. “As the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, we strongly support the need for a voluntary, national non-GMO labeling standard.”

Democratic Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota supported that standard, noting that “hundreds of scientific, peer reviewed studies have found [genetically engineered] foods are just as safe and nutritious as non-[genetically engineered] foods.”

The House-passed bill “works,” according to Walz, because products labeled non-genetically modified “will be certified by the USDA.”

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer said “Minnesota farmers already deal with heavy compliance regulations to ensure that genetically engineered crops are safe to eat.”

Minnesota Democrats Collin Peterson and Betty McCollum also voted for the bill as did Republicans John Kline and Erik Paulsen.
Only two of the state’s eight House members — Democrats Keith Ellisoin and Rick Nolan — opposed the measure.

GMO labeling supporters, such as the Environmental Working Group and its Just Label It spinoff, maintain that the bill denies “Americans the right to know what’s in their food and how it’s grown.”

“This House was bought and paid for by corporate interests, so it’s no surprise that it passed a bill to block states and the [Food and Drug Adminstration] from giving consumers basic information about their food,” said Just Label It chief Scott Faber.

Faber alluded to a recent poll that found nine in 10 Americans support GMO labeling.

Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson believes the new bill answers those concerns.

“The bill changes the current review process to ensure that every new genetically engineered plant destined to enter the market goes through an FDA safety review,” Peterson said in a statement after the vote. “The bill also sets a national, uniform standard to define genetically engineered products.”

Opponents expressed hope that the bill would not pass the Senate.
Support in the upper chamber is not as strong for a GMO labeling ban. But the ban could be appended to other must-pass legislation.

http://www.startribune.com/u-s-house...ote/318321411/