Vermont could become the first state to set its own GMO rules. GMO labeling bill would trump states

Food manufacturers don’t have to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients, and now they have a bill that would keep it that way.

Rep. Mike Pompeo on Wednesday morning introduced The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014, a bill that would give ultimate authority of GMO labeling to the Food and Drug Administration, which favors a voluntary approach to the issue. The measure, which has the support of the food, biotechnology and agriculture industries, looks to nullify efforts in no less than 20 states to require mandatory labeling for foods that contain GMOs.


“The scientific community has spoken with one voice,” the Kansas Republican said in a teleconference with reporters to promote his bill. Biotechnology is safe and “there is not a single example” of anyone getting sick after eating food made with GMOs. Requiring labels on foods that contain GMOs misleads consumers to believe that there is a health and safety risk, similar to warning labels on cigarettes, he said.

( Also on POLITICO: Full agriculture policy coverage)

However, consumer and pro-labeling groups in favor of the state efforts are less than convinced.

“This is an unworkable proposal,” Colin O’Neil, director of government affairs for the Center for Food Safety, told reporters in a joint conference call with the Environmental Working Group and Organic Trade Association this afternoon. “We feel it reads more like a contract with the devil” than a solution to providing consumers more information about GMOs in their food.

The introduction of the bill, H.R. 4432, comes just as Vermont looks to become the first state to break through with a final vote of its state’s Senate on mandatory GMO labeling expected in the coming weeks. It’s a situation the food industry would like to avoid.

Pompeo’s 21-page bill unveiled Wednesday, which mirrors almost exactly a draft version first reported last week by POLITICO, aims to instead create a friendlier, preemptive set of federal rules to quell public concerns over GMOs and stem the tide of state bills and ballot initiatives that are proving costly for the industry to fight.

A number of states “are attempting to put together a patchwork quilt of food labeling requirements,” Pompeo said in Wednesday’s call. “That makes it enormously difficult to operate a food system with this enormous variability among all these potential laws.”

“Food is a quintessential component of interstate commerce, and we need a uniform set of standards.”

Pompeo’s bill has at least two Democrats on board. Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah have signed on as cosponsors, joining Republicans Reps. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Ed Whitfield (Ky.).

“People like to read food labels in order to make their own personal decisions,” Blackburn said in a statement. “It makes sense to have federal legislation that will inform consumers, eliminate any confusion, and advance food safety. The legislation that Rep. Pompeo has introduced will do all of those things.”

Pompeo declined to identify other backers at Wednesday’s press event, but promised they would come.

“When you see the folks that are supporting this you will see they come from districts that truly do feed the world,” Pompeo said.

Despite the promise of more support, the prospects for Pompeo’s bill remain unclear. The measure will likely get a June or July hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Pompeo is a member. The committee has jurisdiction over the issue as it applies to interstate commerce. After that, there is no guarantee that it will gain floor time or a final vote, Pompeo said.

Further, a Senate version has yet to be introduced, though the second-term congressman said he is aiming to find a sponsor in the upper chamber.

The measure is unlikely to gain much traction among Senate Democrats, however. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) also has introduced a bill — S. 809 — that seeks to create a federal standard, but one that would mandate the labeling of foods that contain GMOs. She has 15 senators, including Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), signed on in support of her legislation.

Unlike Pompeo, Boxer has a companion bill — H.R. 1699 from Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

Pompeo’s bill may also get push back from FDA, particularly over requirements that the agency define the term “natural” to describe food ingredients on labels. FDA has suggested it is no hurry to define the term because of its subjectivity, the number of parties and agencies that would need to be involved, and the likelihood that a substantive and clear definition is impossible to craft.

It also would give FDA yet another job, requiring food companies to notify the agency before any new GMO ingredient goes on the market . Currently that process is voluntary. The agency would have the authority to mandate a label should any safety issue arise.

FDA isn’t expected to stop many GMO food ingredients from making it to the market, however. As Pompeo noted during his press event, the agency has previously determined there is “absolutely no evidence that GMO foods present any safety risk in the food supply.”

FDA’s required involvement in GMOs is the missing piece, Pompeo said, and that should be enough for consumers who are anxious about food safety issues concerning the technology.

Pompeo, from Kansas’s 4th District — which he described as a mostly “large and agricultural community … where farmers make a living by producing food that feeds the world” — said his bill was an effort to provide access to biotechnology for farmers, necessary information to consumers and ensure that GMOs on the market are safe.

“This certainly matters for food abundance and reliability in difficult times,” Pompeo said, noting that biotechnology can be used to increase yields, make crops drought resistant and reduce environmental burdens from pesticide use.

In coming years, “the demand for food all across the world is going to increase dramatically … biotechnology has a tremendous opportunity to prevent hunger.”

Pompeo made assurances that his bill responds to many concerns from agricultural, food and environmental groups, but “still respects the conservative idea that consumers ought to have the information in their hands that’s important to them.”

The bill also follows talking points floated to lawmakers last fall by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which is part of the coalition of food and agriculture groups pushing the measure. The 35-member Coalition For Safe and Affordable Food is led by GMA but also includes the National Corn Growers Association, American Bakers Association, Biotechnology Industry Organization and the American Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Growers Coalition, among others.

However, pro-GMO labeling groups have already started to push lawmakers to reject the bill. Groups including Just Label It, the Environmental Working Group and CFS took to Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday to meet with more than 100 offices, said Scott Faber, executive director of Just Label it.

Their message: Support Boxer’s and DeFazio’s bills to require mandatory GMO labeling.

Bill Tomson contributed to this report.