Consumer Reports: Consumers Want Mandatory Labeling for GMO Foods [View all]

[Ichingcarpenter]

Nearly 90 percent of Americans want mandatory labeling on genetically modified foods, according to a new poll of 800 registered voters commissioned by a coalition of consumer and environmental groups, including Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. These results confirm previous polls by Consumer Reports and other groups, which also show overwhelming support for GMO labeling.

In July 2016, Vermont will become the first state to require that GMO foods be labeled as such. But that law is being challenged.

In October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard arguments to overturn a lower court’s decision to allow the Vermont law to go forward while a lawsuit brought by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other food industry organizations to block the law was being argued. This past summer, the House of Representatives passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 (H.R. 1599)—otherwise known as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act—which would nullify existing state labeling laws, ban any future laws to require labeling, and only allow voluntary labeling on the part of the manufacturer. And currently, some lawmakers want to add a provision to the omnibus spending bill that would block states from requiring GMO foods to be labeled.

http://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/consumers-want-mandatory-labeling-for-gmo-foods