[A] Senate proposal that would have prevented any state from implementing a GMO labeling law failed on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, would have created a voluntary national labeling standard for foods with genetically engineered ingredients, and it would have blocked Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pressed hard to scuttle the legislation, which was defeated in a 48-49 vote. Leahy tried to kill the bill in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry several weeks ago. When that failed, he introduced counter legislation that would mandate GMO labeling nationwide. Now it’s likely the Senate will forge a compromise.
“Today the Senate rejected a hasty and short-sighted effort to roll back Vermont’s GE labeling law,” Leahy said in a statement. “This was a hard-fought victory for Vermont, on our state’s right to honor Vermonters’ right to know what’s in the food they buy. Vermont has led the way in this debate, as our state has in so many important national issues. I hope that now we can all come together to find a path forward to a strong mandatory disclosure policy that can be applied across the board and across the nation.”
Vermont officials say the defeat of Roberts’ bill was a major victory in an ongoing national legal and legislative battle over a state law that is set to go into effect on July 1.
Vermont is the first state to require food manufacturers to label products with genetically engineered ingredients. Two other states, Maine and Connecticut, have passed similar laws, and 30 states have introduced labeling legislation.
Not long after Act 120 was enacted in 2014, the state became embroiled in a lawsuit with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Snack Food Association, and the International Dairy Foods Association. The food industry groups are arguing the law violates First Amendment rights. A lower court upheld the Vermont law. The case is currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
At a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Peter Shumlin told reporters that food manufacturers “didn’t get what they wanted in court so they go right to their lobbyists in Washington who run to Congress folks they give a lot of money to, the Republican party, and they try to pass a measure like Roberts came out with in the Senate.”
Shumlin pointed to the announcement made by Campbell’s Soup in January that the company supports a national standard for mandatory labeling of food products as proof that Vermont’s law is leading the nation in protecting Vermonters’ right to know what is in their food.
“It’s interesting to me that Campbell’s Soup has seemed to figure this one out without going bankrupt,” Shumlin said. “When I hear the arguments being made for taking away consumers’ rights, for taking away consumers’ ability to know what’s in their food, the lines of argument they come up with are laughable.”
He described Roberts’ proposal “to override the very thoughtful bill that we’re fighting so hard for in Vermont” as an attempt to “take away consumers’ rights.”
“In full plain English, this is a Congress led by the Republicans that believes in state’s rights, that believes in smaller federal government until it comes to matters that affect either a woman’s a right to plan for her own health care choices or until it’s against the Monsanto and the large food companies in America who don’t want you to know what’s in your food,” Shumlin said.
