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GMO labeling fight will likely resume in January

ASA president Richard Wilkins spoke at the Iowa Soybean Association's annual meeting. (photo courtesy ISA)

ASA president Richard Wilkins spoke at the Iowa Soybean Association’s annual meeting. (photo courtesy ISA)

Agricultural leaders in Congress say the issue of GMO labeling will be one of their top priorities when they return to work in January.

Richard Wilkins, the new president of the American Soybean Association, says they were disappointed that efforts to address GMO labeling, as part of the omnibus budget bill, were unsuccessful.

“We were hoping to get some kind of language in the omnibus bill to preempt states from being able to put into place mandatory GMO labeling requirements,” Wilkins says. “But we’re getting indications, certainly from Senator Stabenow and others, that it’s going to be at the top of their list of priorities when they go back into session after the holidays.”

Wilkins tells Brownfield state-by-state labeling laws would not only be a nightmare for food manufacturers, it would also create confusion for consumers.

“The perception that a consumer could have with a front of package label—it’s alarmist. It’s a fear-monger’s way of trying to achieve a political agenda,” he says.

The most immediate concern, Wilkins says, is Vermont’s law requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods, which will go into effect next summer.

Wilkins made his comments in an interview with Brownfield at the recent Iowa Soybean Association annual meeting in Ankeny.

AUDIO: Richard Wilkins

  • The bottom line is this: the public has a right to know if food is genetically modified. No amount of specious reasoning is going to change that fact. For shame, Mr. Wilkins! Stop being a fearful greedy bully and let us have our information.

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