An attempt to pass a new law preempting efforts in several states to mandate GMO labeling is not only doomed to failure, it’s exactly the wrong strategy industry needs to prevail.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted 275-150 in favor of the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, which would block states from passing mandatory GMO labeling laws. But this proposed law won’t deal with the fundamental issue here, and that isn’t consumer demand for labeling, but rather a deep distrust of genetic engineering as a science and its application as a complex technology. All that H.R. 1599 would do is further polarize the controversy and further alienate consumers suspicious of the entire rationale underlying genetic modification.
No doubt, there are credible, scientifically sound arguments in favor of deploying biotechnology in agriculture. The Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food, a group of food-industry trade groups, has done a solid job of detailing those benefits. What the coalition hasn’t been so successful in selling is the claim that biotech will reduce food costs and help alleviate world hunger. Those benefits may indeed be realized someday, but as of now, whatever favorable economics are associated with the cultivation of GE crops are going to growers and processors, not consumers.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Meat of the Matter: Wrong move, wrong reasons
