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GMO labeling support not universal

While many in ag support the compromise GMO food labeling bill that has passed Congress, some do not.

Kara O’Conner with Wisconsin Farmers Union says the bill interferes with decisions made by democratically elected local officials, as in Vermont where that state’s new GMO labeling law will take effect in August unless President Obama signs this national bill into law.  O’Conner says they support labeling, but they would have preferred a more up-front national labeling law, “The bill allows food companies to only to disclose the information upon inquiry by telephone or email, rather than simply putting information on a package. If we’re honest about wanting to get information into consumer’s hands, put it on the package.”

American Farm Bureau board member and Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Jim Holt says they are glad the House passed the Senate bill, because the Vermont GMO labeling law set a bad precedent, “It set the stage for a huge patchwork of regulations for labeling across the country and therefore we needed to have some attention to pre-empting states from doing that and that’s what this bill also does.”

Holt says Farm Bureau supports the bill because it prevent states from creating many different GMO laws.  Wisconsin Farmers Union supports simply putting the information on the package.