The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.
Senate agriculture leaders have come up with misguided legislation that would mandate labels for genetically engineered food (GMO).
Here are some quick points that policymakers should consider regarding this legislation:
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. . . . Preemption [of state law] is inappropriate when the federal government is merely swapping a state mandate for a federal mandate, maintaining all of the biggest problems with mandatory labeling.
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A federal mandate has the same problems as any state mandate. It may create uniformity, but creating uniform bad policy doesn’t make it good policy. . . .
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There is a rush to get ahead of Vermont’s state mandatory law. . . the law won’t be enforced until 2017. . . . This rush is coming at the expense of developing sound policy.
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Once the federal government gives the green light to mandatory labeling. . . It’s highly unlikely that this bad policy will ever get undone. . . .
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. . . .Congress should never pass a law that it knows is both misleading and contradictory to the science.
. . . .The Senate should do the right thing, even if it means . . . a longer fight.