At the starting time of this class , HobbyFarms.com managing web editor Rachael Brugger asked a group of writers for our predictions about2015 ’s food and farming course . I did n’t need a crystal orb to predict that labeling of genetically change food would be up for discussion again this twelvemonth . I did n’t have a bun in the oven it to show up so quickly , though , and I ’m delighted it has .
First introduced in 2013 , theGenetically Engineered Food Right - to - Know Act(H.R. 1699 / S. 809 ) has been reintroduced by Senators Barbara Boxer ( D - CA ) and Richard Blumenthal ( D - CT ) in Congress and Representative Peter DeFazio ( five hundred - OR ) in the Senate . The bill amends theFederal Food , Drug and Cosmetic Actto require that genetically engineered intellectual nourishment and foods that curb genetically engineered ingredients be labeled as such .
If ordain , the statewide labeling acts passed by Connecticut , Maine andVermontwill be null , as labeling will be a federally mandate progeny . too , there will be no more statewide labeling battle like we encounter inOregon and Coloradolast year . What will food activists and major solid food pot spend all of their fourth dimension and money on now ?
In This peak
This Right - to - Know Act outlines several grounds behind the bill :
Please notice that nowhere does it say GMOs are defective for you , GMOs are dangerous or GMOs should not be eaten . This act is being pass as a right to love — hence the title — and not a barrier to GM - intellectual nourishment approach .
thing that wo n’t be label under this act admit :
Labeling ’s Arch Nemesis
With the right wing - to - do it poster on the tabular array , reintroduction of theSafe and Accurate Food Labeling Act(H.R. 4432 ) into Congress is n’t far behind . This poster was also first insert in 2013 , though it is is the antithesis of a labeling act . It ’s design to exclude down country ’ compulsory GMO labeling efforts and will not require GM foods to be label unless the FDA find them materially different than the same foods not made with GMOs .
opposite to this pecker , includingJust Label Itand theEnvironmental Working Group , call the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act the “ Deny Americans the Right to Know”—DARK — Act . At least the nomenclature for this bill ( as it stand last year , anyway ) does n’t interdict voluntary labeling of non - GM product .
What ’s Your Stand ?
Your legislator do n’t pay attention to my blog or theHobby FarmsFacebook Thomas Nelson Page , I ’m quite sure . What they do pay tending to is feedback from their constituents — that ’s you . What you actuallyneedto do is call yourrepresentativesandsenators . Yes — you need tocallthese people , because a dewy-eyed earpiece call carry so much more weight than signing a petition online or sending an email . Leave a message for your legislator — or talk with the very courteous legislative aides who answer the phone — and clearly express your position on the Genetically Engineered Food Right - to - Know Act or the dependable and Accurate Food Labeling Act .
It ’s simple . I anticipate . Please do it — whether you are for or against labeling !
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