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Safe & Accurate Food Labeling Act Heads to the Senate Talking Points The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act heads to the U.S. Senate with significant bipartisan momentum after it was approved in the House by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. The House approval, by a 275-150 vote, demonstrates that there is a broad base of support behind legislation that will create a uniform, science-based labeling standard for foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Forty-five House Democrats voted for this bill, including Democrats from both urban and rural districts. This shows the strong bipartisan support for this common-sense legislation.
Multiple studies have shown that a patchwork of state labeling mandates will drive up food costs for American families by hundreds of dollars annually. With millions of Americans already food insecure, this is a frightening prospect for many families.
The Senate needs to act on this bill this fall or American families will pay the cost of inaction. Vermont’s labeling mandate goes into effect next July, and if Congress fails to act soon, food companies will be forced to choose how they will comply and potentially begin altering their operations.
If Vermont’s law goes into effect, the consequences will be felt by consumers, farmers and small businesses.
It’s important to know that mandatory GMO labeling has now been overwhelmingly rejected by both chambers of Congress by nearly three-to-one margins. The House defeated a mandatory labeling amendment by a 303-123 vote. That’s about the same margin of a 71-27 vote in the Senate in 2013 to reject a mandatory labeling provision by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Even many advocates for mandatory labeling acknowledge that a costly, confusing patchwork of differing state regulations should be avoided. Their national mandatory labeling solution has been decisively rejected, and it’s time to come together behind this reasonable solution that has broad bipartisan support.
The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act is the right answer for consumers, businesses and farmers because it prevents a costly and confusing patchwork of state labeling mandates, provides consumers with a way to identify GMO-free foods, and has the federal government set uniform national standards on labeling. The creation of a national GMO-free certification program will protect consumer choice and the right to know while bringing consistency and transparency to the market place. This program is based on the National Organic Program, and allows consumers to identify non-GMO foods just like they can readily identify organic foods today.
Consumers should be presented with the same information no matter where they live or shop, and this legislation continues to keep food safety and labeling policy under federal regulators, as it has been for over 100 years. ###
