GMO Food Labeling Standards Moving in Legislature

Earlier this week a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate Ag Committee passed a bill that would establish a national standard to label GMO foods. Earlier this winter a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. This bill that passed the House and is moving forward in the Senate would address the problem of states passing a patchwork of GMO labeling laws. Vermont has already passed a GMO labeling law that goes into effect July 1, 2016.

Can you imagine the nightmare of a food company that distributes food to many states? It would be one label for Vermont, another for New York, Minnesota, Nevada and so on. I have seen cost estimates as high as $1,000 per family per year. The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act would supersede all the state laws with a national standard. I suspect this is really a campaign to stigmatize GMO food or scare consumers into questioning its safety. Do they want warning labels on food like on cigarettes? Warning: Eating GMO food can be hazardous to your health?

There is no question that any added labeling costs will be paid by consumers. The real issue is families that are already "food insecure" and how will they be able to deal with the added costs? I do not know of any farm groups or commodities organizations that are opposed to labeling and giving consumers what they want as long as it is accurate. Putting a label on food saying it is not safe would not be acceptable when there is no science to back up the claim. My first thought, this is a lot of controversy that is easily taken care of.

If consumers are concerned about the safety of GMO food (even though all the science shows it is safe) they can go to the organic section at the grocery store. To be certified as an organic farmer you cannot use GMO seed. So everything organic is non-GMO. The vast majority of corn and soybeans planted have the GMO traits so basically the rest of the food in the grocery store has GMOs in it. This all seems like a lot of noise about something with a very simple solution, unless I am missing something?