Law requiring food with genetically modified ingredients to be labelled due to take effect July 2016, but likely to face law suits

Vermont becomes first US state to require GM labelling for food

Vermont became the first state in the US on Thursday to adopt a law requiring labels for foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

The state's governor, Peter Shumlin, announced on his Twitter feed that he would hold a signing ceremony on Thursday afternoon to sign the new measure into law.



Peter Shumlin (@GovPeterShumlin) Beautiful day for a bill signing. I'll be signing the #gmo labeling bill into law at the statehouse at 230. Everyone is welcome.

The labelling law does not go into effect until July 2016, and Vermont officials acknowledged they are almost certain to face law suits from industry.



Monsanto – the world's biggest producer of genetically modified seeds – said on Thursday the law created “confusion and uncertainty for consumers.”



But for now the law represents a breakthrough for campaigners' efforts to put labels on food containing GM ingredients.



Sixty other countries have adopted some form of labelling laws for food containing GM organisms, but there has been strong resistance from industry in the US.



Connecticut and Maine have passed labelling laws, but those are on hold until other states pass similar legislation.



Voters in California and Washington state narrowly defeated GM labelling measures, after heavy spending by industry groups. A GM labelling bill died in Congress last year.



Nearly 90% of the corn, soybeans and canola grown in the US are raised from seeds that have been genetically modified to be resistant to weed killers and pests.



That means in turn that most processed food contains GM ingredients.



Vermont's attorney general, Bill Sorrell, said he was braced for a pushback from companies like Monsanto, which is the world's largest producer of genetically modified seeds, and which has lobbied heavily against such labelling measures.



“I'll be very surprised if we are not sued,” he told National Public Radio. The GM measure sets up a fund to help the state establish the new labelling rules and to prepare a defence against law suits.



Monsanto's spokesman, Tom Helscher, said the company opposed the new law, and said it would drive up food prices.



“We believe a state by state patchwork of GM labeling laws would create confusion and uncertainty for consumers. Additionally, an inconsistent approach to labeling would create a situation where all consumers would be forced to pay more for the food they need,” he said in an emailed statement.



The movement for GM food labelling has been growing in the US but it was particularly strong in Vermont. The measure passed by the Senate last month by a 26-2 vote. The two opponents had argued that labels would encourage consumers to believe there was a food safety risk of consuming GMOs.



Supporters framed the labels as a “right-to-know” issue – akin to the fat or carbohydrate count on packaged foods.



Under Vermont's measure, information about GM ingredients would be on a similar scale as those labels.



The future of Vermont's new GM labelling law will be watched very closely by campaign groups, which have mobilised across some 20 states to push for GM food labels.



Republicans in Congress are now working on a measure that would block mandatory GM food labels on the state level by offering “a friendlier, pre-emptive set of federal rules,” Mike Pompeo, a Republican member of Congress from Kansas, has said.

Meanwhile, activists in Oregon are gathering signatures to put a right-to-know measure on the ballot next November.

The vote is seen to offer a better chance of passing GM labelling legislation than California or Washington state, where campaigners blamed a combination of heavy industry spending and low turnout for defeat.



Monsanto and other companies spent $46 million to defeat the ballot measure in California.

