WASHINGTON, DC – Organic organizations and farmer groups nationwide are among groups and individuals opposing the GMO labeling bill. The bill, which is being offered by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), is “discriminatory and deeply-flawed,” according to the Center For Food Safety.
“Organic organizations, farmers and companies rightly fear that this bill could change important regulations governing the federal organic program including those prohibiting the use of genetic engineering in organic. They also refuse to be part of a sham labeling bill that blatantly discriminates against low-income, rural, elderly and a disproportionately high number of minority Americans,” said Andres Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety, in a recent statement.
Thirty-six major organic groups have signed on to a letter sent by a national coalition of consumer, food safety, farm, environmental, and religious groups to all members of the Senate earlier this week. The groups united to express condemnation of this bill, citing it would be “devastating to the organic standard.”
The groups gave five specific reasons why they opposed this bill. First, the bill does not require any mandatory standards for GMO labeling. Second, their letter to Senate points out that a large number of food – both current and future – will be exempt from any labeling.
The third argument is that the bill discriminates against rural, low income and elderly populations. The objection letter assumes that people who fall into these three categories do not have access to smart phones and would therefore have no access to the labels in question.
The fourth argument states that the bill would be in “violation of state sovereignty by specifically preempting GMO seed laws and potentially numerous other laws and regulations.” The fifth and final argument notes that there is no enforcement set in place for violators of the mandatory GMO labeling.
Note: The above was a press release from the Center for Food Safety. For more information on this national non-profit group, please go to www.centerforfoodsatey.org.
© Therapeutic Thymes, 2016
Author: Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman
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