[T]he U.S. House has joined the Senate in approving a bill undoing Vermont’s law requiring labels that identify genetically altered foods.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign it, according to reports.
Vermont’s delegation strenuously opposed the bill, S.764, which was advanced by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. It prevents states from instituting labeling requirements more strict than what it contains.
Instead of a label identifying genetically engineered ingredients — as Vermont had required in its law that went into effect July 1 — the bill allows food processors to print a toll-free number or a digital code on labels that consumers can use to get more information. Consumers would need a smartphone with the appropriate application to use the digital code.
The rulemaking process for the legislation would take about two years.
S.764 also pre-empts a 2004 Vermont law requiring companies to label genetically engineered seeds.
The pre-emption will go into effect immediately. A number of high profile manufacturers, including the Campbell Soup Co., Frito-Lay, Kellogg’s and ConAgra, had already begun labeling GMO foods nationwide to comply with Vermont’s law. It’s not clear whether the companies will continue to do so voluntarily.
Roberts propelled the bill through Congress with dire warnings from a study he said showed that labeling laws like Vermont’s would cost each American $1,050 annually if implemented nationwide.
The study actually shows Americans would shoulder a one-time cost of around $12 per person for labels nationwide to identify genetically altered foods.
The study’s abstract also says in its first paragraph that Vermont’s labeling law would cost Americans $82 billion. That number, the author later explains, actually represents the cost of outlawing genetically altered foods nationwide.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both adamantly opposed the Senate bill. The two held a news conference Wednesday decrying the impact of the bill on Vermont’s law.
Leahy described S.764 as a “fig leaf disguised as a compromise” and blamed “big corporations that back this deal.” Sanders said the bill creates “a confusing, misleading and unenforceable standard for labeling genetically modified food.”
“Instead of using Vermont’s law as a floor, these powerful interests are intent on stamping it out as quickly as they can,” Leahy said in a statement. “What’s driving their efforts isn’t consumers’ right to know, but on doing as little as they can get by with. They couldn’t care less if their plan sows more confusion for consumers across the country.”
Leahy introduced nine amendments to the bill, none of which was considered by the Senate. A cloture vote limited debate on the floor.
