Vermont has become the first US state to require that food containing genetically modified ingredients be labelled. The law is presented as increasing consumers鈥� access to information, but it is unclear how it will help because scientists believe these widely-used ingredients are harmless.
From 1 July 2016, all genetically modified (GM) food sold in Vermont must have the words 鈥減roduced with genetic engineering鈥� emblazoned on the packaging in a 鈥渃lear and conspicuous鈥� way. The bill was on 8 May by the state鈥檚 governor Peter Shumlin.
Connecticut and Maine have passed similar laws, but these will only take effect once other states join in. Vermont is the first state to require that GM food be labelled unconditionally.
Advertisement
Almost everything in an average grocery store in the US contains an ingredient with some level of genetic modification. Most US-grown corn and soy is genetically modified, and these are present in a wide variety of foods. The chemical used to break down milk to make cheese, chymosin, was previously made from the processed stomachs of young calves but is now mostly produced using genetically-engineered bacteria.
Label this!
Plant geneticist of Colorado State University in Fort Collins says he is unaware of any evidence that GM foods are harmful to humans. 鈥淕iven all the hype and the fearful messages being circulated, I think a label would likely be interpreted as a warning that you might want to avoid this product, not a neutral message,鈥� he says.
There is no parallel campaign to label foods that have been exposed to heavy pesticide or herbicide use, says Byrne, even though both have damaging impacts on human health and the environment. 鈥淵ou would think there would be more concern over pesticide residues, or whether manure was used to produce this food,鈥� says Byrne.
Labelling alone doesn鈥檛 put consumers off GM crops without an anti-GM campaign, says , director for sustainable development at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington DC. GM crops aren鈥檛 sold in Europe, and it was an anti-GM campaign, rather than labelling laws, that caused this result. 鈥淚t was the accompanying campaign by Greenpeace that swayed consumer attitudes,鈥� says Golan. 鈥淎 few words on a label are rarely enough to grab a consumer鈥檚 attention.鈥�
Golan and Byrne say US consumers can already avoid genetically modified foods by choosing certified GM-free or organic products, both of which are legally bound to avoid genetically modified ingredients.