Obama signs compromise GMO labeling bill

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President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that prevents states from requiring on-package labeling of genetically modified ingredients, capping an historic win for farm groups, food companies and the biotech industry.

The Agriculture Department, which is charged with implementing the disclosure standard, issued a statement saying that a working group has already been working  to “develop a timeline for rulemaking and to ensure an open and transparent process for effectively establishing this new program. We are committed to providing multiple opportunities for engagement, and will have more information about this very soon.”

The biotech bill mandates disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients but will allow companies to do it through scannable smartphone codes as an alternative to on-package text or symbol. The legislation is intended to nullify Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law, which went into effect July 1 and has already forced major companies to start disclosing GMO ingredients on product packages.

For lawmakers from both parties, the bill was a flawed compromise, either because it will require disclosure of GMOs or because it didn’t mandate the on-package labeling that typically gets strong support in consumer polls.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Obama signs historic GMO labeling bill

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