Vermont has become the first jurisdiction in the Americas to
force labelling for genetically-modified foods.
The governor signed the bill into law this week, but it’s
not due to take effect until 2016, and it probably won’t survive until then.
Lawsuits are so certain to arise that the governor has set
up a website to gather money from the public to right legal challenges.
And Republicans who control the House of Representatives in
Washington are proposing legislation to bar states from requiring GMO labelling.
In signing the legislation, Governor Peter Shumlin, announcing
the website campaign, "we are asking people all across America, and all
across the great state of Vermont, to go to (the website) and make a donation,
so that we can win the Vermont Food Fight Fund fight not only for Vermont, but
for America."
The law will require labels at retail for foods containing
any GMO ingredients and signs at displays for unpackaged GMO foods.
I wonder whether they realize that this will require a GMO label on the overwhelming majority of processed foods. And did they check with Post cereals to learn that it has had no sales increase since it announced that regular Cheerios would be GMO free?
