House Passes Bill That Restricts States From Requiring GMO Food Labeling
In Washington on Thursday, Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) and the House of Representatives passed a law that would restrict states from requiring the food industry to label foods containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in them. The Huffington Post reports that not only did the measure pass, but it had some bipartisan support from House Democrats as well.
The bill, which is titled the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (SAFLA), passed the House in a 275 to 150 vote on Thursday. This means that a significant portion of the House Democrats broke party lines on the measure and voted with Republicans to pass the bill.
The bill essentially means that states cannot require GMO labeling on food suppliers. This is in direct opposition to laws that states like Vermont, Connecticut and Maine have been attempting to pass recently.
"What this legislation is suggesting is that regardless of what consumers want, they won't be told," Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told Huff Post. "This is not about a small group of activists. This is states like Vermont, like Maine and like Connecticut, with massive bipartisan votes, Republicans and Democrats, saying that they wanted to have the right to have these products labeled."
But the bill sponsor, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), had another view on the measure.
"The fact is, the scientific consensus on the safety of genetically engineered products is utterly overwhelming. Precisely zero pieces of credible evidence have been presented that foods produced with biotechnology pose any risk to our health and safety," Pompeo said.
This bill takes the authority away from the states, even in the case that evidence does emerge that GMOs are harmful to long and short-term health.
"Americans have a right to know what is in their food and how it is grown," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said. "Instead of undermining this progress, Congress should require mandatory GMO labeling at the federal level."
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced a counter measure to require mandatory labeling at the federal level on all food products, arguing that consumers have the right to know what they are eating.
"I'm not quite sure when the last time was when a flounder mated with a tomato plant, but we now have tomatoes that have injected into them flounder genes," DeFazio said.
The Senate has not yet passed an equivalent measure for the bill.
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