As Hoosier Ag Today reported on Wednesday, Indiana Farm Bureau members are on Capitol Hill pushing for a voluntary approach to GMO labeling on food products. The Indiana Soybean Alliance is urging its members, who are deep into harvest, to take time to contact Indiana Senators to support a voluntary approach. In a call to action sent to members on Wednesday, ISA said, “A state-by-state system will impose significant costs on Indiana farmers and will increase food prices due to the separate supply chain frameworks for non-GE ingredients that would have to be put in place. Please contact Senators Coats and Donnelly and ask them to co-sponsor the GMO labeling bill.”
The House has passed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1599, with 45 Democrats supporting to create a uniform, science-based, national system governing the review and labeling of GE foods. The bill also allows those who wish to label their products as GMO-free to do so through a USDA-accredited certification process. Consumers will continue to have all the access they want to the products they want. The legislation is now before the Senate where it faces an uphill fight.