As 200,000 people prepare to march against Monsanto, the Senate has overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would allow states to decide if genetically modified food products should be labeled.
The amendment shot down by the Senate would have allowed states
to make their own decisions on whether or not GMO foods should be
labeled — without mandating any action. Supporters originally
believed that this measure was non-controversial, and simply gave
states an option. But the Senate voted 71 to 27 against it on
Thursday, days before Saturday’s March Against
Monsanto.
“The concept we’re talking about today is a fairly
commonsense and non-radical idea,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
the bill’s sponsor, told the Huffington Post before the vote.
“All over the world, in the European Union, in many other
countries around the world, dozens and dozens of countries, people
are able to look at the food that they are buying and determine
through labeling whether or not that product contains genetically
modified organisms.”
Sanders also explained that the Food and Drug Administration
requires more than 3,000 ingredients to be labeled on food
products, but that GMOs are not on this list.
But opponents of the measure argued that GMOs should not be
labeled, since the FDA has not made scientific conclusions that
would require it. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chair of the
Agriculture Committee, said the amendment that was shot down was
not relevant to the farm bill. She also emphasized the importance
of Monsanto in providing foods at lower prices that help feed
people around the world — an argument often made by supporters of
the biotech giant.
“I believe we must rely on the FDA’s science-based
examination before we make conclusions about food ingredients
derived from genetically modified foods,” she said. “They
currently do not require special labeling because they’ve
determined that food content of these ingredients does not
materially differ from their conventional counterparts.”
On Thursday, Senate Republicans also objected to an
attempt to repeal a provision that critics call the “Monsanto
Protection Act”, which allows Monsanto and other biotech giants
that use GMOs to plant and sell their products, even if legal
action is taken against them. The provision protects Monsanto from
financial damages and has generated petitions and a nationwide
outcry from critics who claim the legislation allows the company to
bypass the court system and dominate the seed industry.
“The provision [strips] federal courts of the authority to
halt the sale and planting of an illegal, potentially hazardous GE
crop while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) assesses those
potential hazards,” dozens of food businesses and retailers
wrote Congress before the “Monsanto Protection Act” was passed in
March.
The Senate vote against the GMO labeling provision comes as the
Vermont House and Connecticut Senate this month voted to force food
companies to declare GMO ingredients on their packages — moves that
indicate a growing support for GMO labeling while Congress
continues to side with Monsanto.
The vote also occurred just two days before 200,000 people in 40
countries and 48 US states are expected
to take to the streets to rally against the biotech giant. The
global “March Against Monsanto” will occur in cities including New
York, Chicago, Montreal, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Moscow, and
Melbourne.
Protesters will demand a ban on GMOs, which many believe have
detrimental health effects. They will also rally against Monsanto’s
patenting rights, which allow the corporation to monopolize the
seed industry.
“For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate
subsidies and political favoritism,” states the Facebook page
of the March Against Monsanto, Washington, D.C. “Organic and
small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its
monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive
patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.”
The global march initially began as a grassroots event, but has
quickly garnered support from tens of thousands of people on
Facebook pages and Google Documents. Kirsten Neus, a Washington,
D.C. resident who starkly opposes Monsanto’s actions, told RT that
she is trying to convince all of her friends to attend the protests
and learn about the evils of the corporate biotech giant.
“I’m going because I want Monsanto’s leaders to know that we
know who they are and what they’re doing, and we won’t sit back and
watch as they collude with our elected officials to destroy our
planet and our future in the pursuit of profit,” said Neus, in
anticipation of Saturday’s march.
With Congress against him and tens of thousands of supporters
rallying in support of his goals, Sen. Sanders will continue to
push the GMO labeling provision in the Senate.
“The people of Vermont and the people of America have a right
to know what’s in the food they eat,” Sanders told AP.
The House Agriculture Committee approved a version of the farm
bill last week, which is expected to be voted upon this summer.
This article originally appeared on: RT