WASHINGTON – EWG applauds Sen. Jeff Merkley (D- Ore.) for introducing a common-sense approach to GMO labeling that both the food industry and consumer groups can support. The bill, titled the Biotechnology Food Labeling Uniformity Act, is co-sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), Jon Tester (D., Mont.) and Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.). Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president of government affairs, said in a statement:
Sen. Merkley has offered a path forward on GMO labeling that gives consumers what they want while also providing flexibility to the food industry. The Merkley bill is the kind of common-sense solution consumers have been waiting for.
Even members of the Senate Agriculture Committee who voted this week for the Deny Americans the Right to Know, or DARK, Act acknowledged that it was flawed and would need to be revised to pass the Senate. Sen. Merkley’s approach is an alternative that works for both consumers and food companies and, unlike the DARK Act, could pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama.
