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Mandatory GMO labeling moves step closer in the U.S.

NEWS

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new guidelines for labeling foods that contain genetically modified ingredients.

COMMENT

In recent years, multinational food and biotech companies have fought long and hard against the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods in the United States. But with pressure for labeling having now even come from the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), it has become clear that the battles being waged by these multinational corporations are doomed to eventually fail.

For now, however, it seems that the pro-GMO lobby is fighting on and that it still has the support of the USDA. Rather than using the acronym ‘GMO’, for example, the guidelines propose that labeling would instead refer to ‘BE’, meaning that food has been ‘bioengineered’. Moreover, some processed foods containing GMOs would continue to remain exempt from labeling requirements. Just as bad, the guidelines would even seemingly allow GMOs to be labeled with smiley emoticon and sunshine images! A summary of these and other problems with the currently proposed guidelines can be found on the Center For Food Safety website.

Whatever happens next, one thing is already certain: mandatory labeling is but the first step towards the achieving of a global food supply that is free from GMOs. We’re not there yet, but the ‘GMO madness’ is undoubtedly now on its way to being brought to an end.

Read article in the New York Times (USA)