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A key player in the U.S. food industry has asked a federal court to overturn Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law. And lawyers for Vermont are now using that lawsuit to try to gain access to internal studies on GMOs done by Monsanto, DuPont and other corporations.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association represents the biggest players in the food industry. . . .
“They’ve been making arguments saying there’s no scientific basis for requiring this type of label,” says Kyle Landis-Marinello, an assistant attorney general assigned to represent Vermont in the case. “And part of the normal legal process when you have this kind of litigation is we get to explore whether they can back that up or not.”
. . . [E]arlier this month, the State of Vermont asked a judge to force Monsanto, Dow, DuPont and other companies to produce any internal studies or research related to the health or environmental effects of genetically engineered foods.
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Keith Matthews is a lawyer . . . that specializes in chemicals regulation and other environmental issues. He says the research needed to land a product that contains GMOs on store shelves is among the most rigorous in all of regulated commerce.
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Matthews, a former director at the Environmental Protection Agency, says all of the research needed to secure federal regulatory approval is already available for public review. And he says it’s exceedingly unlikely that the firms in question have kept secret studies indicating the products pose harm, since federal law expressly prohibits that practice.
Read full, original post: Vermont Asks Court To Compel Food Industry To Release GMO Safety Data
