On July 23, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which is
intended to permanently prevent passage of any state or federal law
mandating the labeling of GMOs in your food.
H.R. 1599 is now before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry. A Senate version of the bill is expected to be
introduced soon.
There are two excellent reasons he should do this.
First, President Obama promised labels on GMO foods, in a campaign
speech he gave in 2007, in Iowa. He said, “Here’s what I’ll do as
President . . . . We’ll let folks know whether their food has been
genetically modified, because Americans should know what they’re
buying.”
Second, on May 20, 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order
against passing federal laws that preempt state laws. In a memorandum
to heads of executive departments and agencies, the President wrote that
“preemption of State law by executive departments and agencies should be
undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of
the States and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption.”
In other words, he said, don’t preempt state laws unless you are on sound
legal ground. According to the latest legal analysis of H.R. 1599, and
according to a recent ruling by a federal judge on Vermont’s GMO labeling
law (Act 20), there is no constitutional basis for preempting state GMO
labeling laws.
H.R. 1599 was introduced in the House by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). It’s
called the "The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act," a name
created to intentionally deceive busy lawmakers into thinking this bill
is good for consumers.
We call it the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act, because
that’s what it actually does. It gives Monsanto the legal right to
deceive consumers about what’s in their food.
A recent report says that since 2013, Monsanto and Big Food have spent
$143 million in lobbying expenditures that mentioned GMO labeling. And
those 275 U.S. Representatives who voted for H.R. 1599? They took in
$29.9 million in contributions from agribusiness and Big Food, in 2014
alone.
We need to pressure our Senators to reject H.R. 1599 and to support
mandatory labeling laws. But we also need to hold President Obama
accountable for his campaign promise and remind him of his Executive
Order on Preemption.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit
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