Congress passed a bill on Thursday that wipes out state laws requiring the labeling of genetically modified ingredients in food.
The bill particularly strikes down a Vermont labeling law that just went into effect this month and required ingredients derived from genetic engineering to be disclosed on packaging.
The focus on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) has lately been intense. While GMO has given the world new medications and new foods, the science has also created a backlash to companies like the agricultural/chemical giant Monsanto, which controls and develops proprietary rights to GMO plant seeds.
Consumer as well as governmental fear that a GMO product may be inferior or even harmful, or that it may do damage to non-GMO plants growing in a field nearby has given us GMO bans as well as updated food labeling regulations.But scientific plant modification is hardly a new phenomenon. For instance,wine grape modification in one form or another is a centuries-old practice, and after multiple crossings and hybridizing over the centuries, few grapevines today are true to their origin.
This November, voters in Colorado and Oregon voted down referenda that would require the labeling of foods with genetically modified (GM) ingredients, joining California and Washington, where similar ballot measures have failed. However, the issue is far from settled. In May, the Vermont legislature passed the first mandatory law, scheduled to go into effect July 2016—but not without a fight. In June, the Grocery Manufacturers Association of Washington, DC, a leading opponent of state labeling laws, joined with other food trade organizations in filing a lawsuit contesting the Vermont law. (more…)
The Onion writes a satire piece about a genetically modified crop that is so powerful it takes over the whole Midwest.
“Wreaking untold environmental and economic devastation throughout the region, a strain of harvest-resistant corn engineered by the agrochemical company Monsanto is now engulfing most of the Midwest, officials confirmed Monday.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the genetically modified crop, which Monsanto originally enhanced with traits to provide resistance from pests, diseases, and environmental conditions such as drought and frost, has become completely impervious to industrial reaping machinery and has spread uncontrollably across 700,000 square miles of land. ”