The government’s rules for labeling GMO foods, those produced with genetic engineering, fail to protect consumers adequately because they allow manufacturers to use labels whose only information on those ingredients comes from computer codes or text messaging, a Bay Area federal judge has ruled.
Opponents said those options would not help consumers — many of them low-income — who lacked access to smartphones or other devices that could be used to send computerized text messages. On [September 13], U.S. District Judge James Donato of Oakland ruled that the notices did not meet legal standards.
“Congress was especially concerned about whether consumers would be able to access bioengineering information through the electronic disclosure,” Donato wrote, referring to a federal law that required GMO product labels to contain information that could be accessed without an electronic device.
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The Department of Agriculture was not immediately available for comment. It could appeal the ruling.
