Senate Rejects Biotech Labels

OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. Senate doesn't support allowing states the freedom to require labels on foods that include ingredients from biotech crops.

While ballot initiatives and state legislators continue pushing for such labels, an amendment to the farm bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to ensure states have the freedom to require such labels received just 27 votes on Thursday with 71 senators rejecting such state-created food labels. Sanders' amendment garnered the backing of just one more senator than a comparable amendment he offered during last year's debate.

Sanders was impassioned about the topic, saying the Vermont legislature had overwhelmingly passed a measure to require labeling foods.

"I can tell you with absolute certainty that the people of Vermont want to know what is in their food," Sanders said on the floor Wednesday. He added, "This is a pretty simple amendment. It basically says the American people have the right to know what they are eating."

The Vermont bill passed the state house 107-37 but still had to go through the other chamber in the state. Vermont Public Radio reported the biggest question in the debate is whether the state label requirement would invoke a lawsuit over its constitutionality.

Besides Vermont, Connecticut's state senate voted 35-1 earlier in the week on a comparable bill. Supporters of labeling foods with ingredients from biotech crops say bills or state ballot measures have begun in at least 37 states.

Sanders argued his amendment would have clarified the law on that matter. He also noted that the FDA already requires labels for over 3,000 different reasons, so why can't states label for one more -- genetically engineered crops. "There is strong precedent for labeling GMOs," Sanders said.

Before Sanders' vote, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told senators the amendment was actually not germane to the farm bill because FDA is overseen by the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. Stabenow also said the amendment would interfere with FDA's science-based process for labels.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the HELP Committee, told Iowa reporters shortly before the vote that he opposes Sanders' position.

"I think it's a poorly drafted amendment," Harkin said.

Harkin clarified he supports disclosure and whether a food has ingredients from biotech crops, but he said it can't be practically done if every state is allowed to create a different labeling standard.

"How would food packaging companies, how would they ever comply with all of that?" Harkin said. "It would just be a mish-mash of different policies all over the country. I don't know how business could ever work with that."

In a statement, the Grocery Manufacturers Association reiterated its opposition to labeling foods because of biotech crops.

"We strongly oppose any amendment that would require mandatory special labels for food and beverages that contain ingredients derived from agricultural biotechnology," GMA stated. "Regardless of proponents' intentions, a special label would unnecessarily alarm consumers and provide no health or safety benefits. In addition, the significant negative consequences would be evident in reduced agricultural productivity, research, risk management, and environmental protections made possible by the adoption of biotechnology."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(AG/BAS)

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