Merkley, Leahy, Tester, Feinstein Introduce GMO Food Labeling Legislation

Statement

Today, Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley and Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced legislation that would ensure that consumers can find GMO ingredient labeling on food packaging while ensuring that food producers are not subject to confusing or conflicting labeling requirements in different locations.

The senators' legislation presents an alternative to a Senate Agriculture Committee bill that would hide ingredient information from consumers by overturning state GMO labeling laws.

Merkley is the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, on which Senators Tester, Leahy and Feinstein also serve. Leahy is also a former Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
"Rather than blocking consumers' access to information they want, the U.S. Senate should move forward with a solution that works for businesses and consumers alike," said Merkley. "There is a way to give consumers the information they are asking for without placing unfair or conflicting requirements on food producers. This legislation provides the common-sense pathway forward."

"This bill is an important step forward to give consumers a uniform national mandatory label, and it seeks to address the needs of food producers by giving them a suite of options to comply with a mandatory national label," said Leahy. "I believe that until a national mandatory label like this is enacted, Congress should not preempt state laws, like Vermont's Act 120."

"American consumers have been asking for this information and this bill strikes a reasonable balance that will deliver it," said Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy, Montana. "Transparency in food labeling strengthens our families and communities, and ensures consumers aren't left in the dark."

The Biotechnology Food Labeling and Uniformity Act would allow American consumers to see whether a food has been prepared with GM ingredients, while offering food manufacturers several options for including this information on or near the ingredients list. This framework meets the needs of consumers, the vast majority of whom support labeling according to polls, and producers, who worry that a patchwork of state labeling laws would be costly and difficult to comply with and confusing for consumers.

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