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On October 21st, for the first time in a decade, there was a U.S. Senate hearing on agricultural biotechnology. The hearing, held by the Senate agriculture committee, provided a chance to gauge how senators are thinking about this issue.
Of course this was the agriculture committee — and I’d expect some pro-GMO sentiments from Democrats with big constituencies of farmers. But I was also expecting to see some senators from more liberal states channelling anti-GMO concerns as well. Instead, I heard strong pro-GMO statements, and no senator planted a flag on anti-GMO ground.
An exchange between regulators and Heidi Heitkamp, a no-nonsense Democrat from North Dakota, was illustrative of the general tenor of the hearing. Heitkamp asked William Jordan, from the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, to explain how he shared safety information with the public. Jordan began talking about making every effort toward transparency, etc.
Heitkamp: “It’s easier to say this is bad than explain why this is good… So I would really challenge all of you to think about how you discuss your findings with the public, so we can advance this beyond regulation, but actually have a conversation with the consumers.”
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The only anti-GMO points brought up at the hearing came from Gary Hirshberg, chair of Stonyfield Farm Inc. and founder of the GMO labeling advocacy group Just Label It. Hirshberg moderated his message: Instead of lecturing on the evils associated with GMOs, he said his group wanted was a “value neutral disclosure” allowing consumers to make their own decisions.
Video of the hearing is available here.
Read full, original post: Senate panel warms to GMOs
