GMO Label Bill May Pass Congress This Session

Mary Kay Thatcher
Mary Kay Thatcher

As the new Congress gathers in Washington, several old ag issues will again see action.  A federal standard for labeling of GMO food products has been before Congress for the past 2 years, but little if any progress has been made. American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Director of Agricultural Policy Mary Kay Thatcher thinks national GMO labeling legislation will be more successful in this new Congress than it was in the previous ones, “We had some good hearings in the House last session; and, with a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, I think we stand a good chance of betting a bill passed this year.”

 

But Thatcher points out that simply a Republican majority in the Senate is not a guarantee that a GMO label bill will make it through. She said enough amendments would need to be attached to such a bill to garner Democratic support, “And it would have to be something the President would sign.”

 

Several states have passed or are considering their own GMO labeling bills. Such a patchwork of different standards would pose a real problem for food producers and manufacturers.

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