Vermont’s short-lived GMO law cost state $2 million, retailers $5 million

Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO labeling law lasted all of three weeks, but now a new federal law voids Vermont state regulations.

“This fight’s not over. It’s moved to Washington, D.C., now, ” said Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell.

Sorrell led a costly legal campaign to defend Vermont’s law from large food corporations like Monsanto that challenged its constitutionality.

. . . .

But was the cost of defending the law worth the three weeks it lasted?

“We would not have a federal GMO law had Vermont not led the nation,” Sorrell said.

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The attorney general’s office reports spending nearly $2 million to defend the law. Here’s how it breaks down:

• $417,000 on attorney general employees
• $1.4 million on outside legal counsel
• $83,000 on expert witnesses

Vermont retailers bore the largest cost– $5 million spent to comply with the law.

. . . .

Small retailers like Bouffard bore that cost and lost products in the process.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Was short-lived GMO law worth the trouble?