GMO Labeling Bills

Now that Vermont’s Governor has officially signed into law a bill that will require the labeling of all foods containing ingredients from genetically modified crops by July 2016 litigation battles will more than likely follow. That’s why the bill also comes with a built in legal defense fund. Other states have passed bills requiring GMO labeling but have put them on hold until other states pass similar labeling laws. According to the Center For Food Safety 34 state bills have introduced GMO labeling bills this year. In fact, the same day Vermont’s Governor was signing the GMO labeling bill for his state the Oregon Supreme Court announced that it has certified a proposed 2014 ballot initiative on GMO labeling, which means that the Oregon Right to Know group will soon be pounding the streets gathering signatures to be able to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. Their deadline for collecting the needed 87,313 signatures is July 3. Another interesting twist to all this is the increasing conflict over organic labeling versus non-GMO labeling, but that’s another Food Forethought all together.