Will Feds Step Onto The GMO Playing Field?

In January and April, this space took a look at the growing patchwork of state proposals for regulating the labeling of foods with genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). As posited here in April, the recent surge in such bills raises a serious question as to whether any individual state—especially one, like Vermont, that accounts for less than 0.01% of the total US population—"should be in a position to regulate labels" of foods sold in interstate commerce. Against this backdrop of potentially thorny constitutional issues, the US House of Representatives is considering a bill that answers: "They shouldn't."

On April 10, 2014, representatives from both parties joined to introduce the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (H.R. 4432), a bill that would preempt state legislation by giving the FDA exclusive authority to regulate GMO labeling. The proposed bill would: