The Associated Press is reporting, President Obama has signed the inadequate GMO labeling law which completely negates Vermont’s state law requiring more stringent labeling requirements from companies using genetically modified organisms.
New to the GMO labeling controversy? Please read over my recent post about the topic:
Senate Nullifies Vermont GMO Labeling Law
Senate Considering GMO Labeling Law
Per the new law, the U.S. Agricultural Department will have two years to formulate rules and consequences for violators in the food production industry. Companies will be required to disclose genetically modified ingredients through text labels, symbols, or scannable QR codes.
As reported by Eater.com
“the new federal labeling law supersedes strict GMO regulations that recently went into effect in Vermont. Critics of the national law — including Senator Bernie Sanders — say the standards don’t go far enough. Not all consumers, they argue, have access to QR code-reading technology. The law has also been accused of lacking teeth, with few or no penalties for companies that violate the labeling standards.”
Even the Food and Drug Administration argues the new law is too ambiguous because it does not describe the definition of “bio-engineering,” and could exempt many food products, which are in fact derived from genetically modified organisms. The food and agricultural industries reluctantly supported the newly signed law because it was better than no labeling at all.
If you are on the fence of this controversial issue, please consider the following reported by Brad Plumer of Vox.com:
More than 93% of the corn and soy planted in the United States is genetically modified in some way. Most of that ends up as animal feed, ethanol, or corn syrup — and corn syrup gets into lots of foods. Cotton, sugar beets, and canola are also common genetically modified crops. Roughly 60%-70% of processed foods in grocery stores contain at least some genetically modified ingredients.
Animals are a slightly different story. There are currently no genetically modified animals that have been approved for use as food in the United States, although there’s a type of GM salmon that’s currently awaiting regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Companies have also used genetic engineering to create certain enzymes and hormones for cheese and milk production.
These statistics are from a country who leads the world in obesity and bad eating habits. If you still believe that GMO products do not directly affect our health or our economy, please watch the 2008 documentary, FOOD, INC. Director Robert Kenner takes us inside the corporate controlled food industry. After watching this film, I changed my grocery shopping habits entirely.
Read Dr. Mehmet Oz’s article about processed foods related to cancer:
Processed Foods Increase Cancer Risk
