Les groupes agroalimentaires des Etats du Colorado et de l’Oregon ont dépensé des millionspour faire échouer, une fois de plus et de justesse, une initiative visant à rendre obligatoire l’étiquetage de leurs produits génétiquement modifiés.Plus de100 millions de dollarsont déjà été investispar les grands groupes pour s’opposer aux déclarationstransparentes. Toutefois, l’industrieest sur la défensive: grâce aux débats polémiques actuels, lapopulationestde mieux en mieuxinformée. À Hawaii,lespartisans des OGMont subi un échec. La culture de plantes génétiquement modifiées est stoppée jusqu’à ce que des analyses détaillées sur les risques sanitaires et environnementaux soient disponibles. (Wall Street Journal, 6.11.14)
Source: Wall Street Journal. 6.11.14
http://online.wsj.com/articles/colorado-voters-defeat-proposal-to-require-gmo-labeling-of-foods-1415206857
Food Industry Wins Round in GMO-Labeling Fight
Big food producers and agribusiness companies defeated measures in Oregon and Colorado that would have required labeling of foods with genetically modified ingredients, after costly campaigns that energized critics and backers of the technology in two more states.
The two states were the latest battlegrounds in a widening national fight between critics of the use of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and the food companies and seed makers that use biotechnology in a range of crops and food products.
Opponents of labeling in Oregon outspent that measure’s backers by $20.5 million to $8.2 million, while in Colorado the ratio was $16.7 million for anti-labeling forces to less than $1 million for proponents, according to state records. That follows a pattern in the defeat of similar measures in California in 2012 and in Washington in 2013. In total, GMO labeling opponents have spent more than $100 million in those four contests, according to state records, about four times the amount spent by labeling backers, which include consumer advocacy groups as well as purveyors of organic and natural foods.
While the votes mark victories for groups and companies like Kraft Foods Group Inc., PepsiCo Inc., and Monsanto Co. that have fought mandatory labeling efforts, the battles have sharply escalated the national debate over GMOs and put the industry on the defensive.
“These victories are a bit hollow,” said Michael Gruber, vice president of government affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group that represents most major food companies and state-mandated labeling. “To be drawn in to these ballot initiatives is unpleasant and draws criticism,” not to mention its “tremendous cost,” he added.
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“Every single person in Colorado and Oregon knows what a GMO is now,” said George Kimbrell, attorney at the nonprofit Center for Food Safety and lead author of the Oregon labeling initiative, Measure No. 92.
The Oregon vote was extremely close, with about 50.5% against Measure No. 92 as of Wednesday afternoon, after the Associated Press called the measure’s defeat. The similar Colorado measure, Proposition 105, failed by a vote of 66% to 34%.
Meanwhile, voters in Maui, Hawaii, on Tuesday narrowly passed a measure that bans growing GMO crops until an analysis of the environmental and public-health impact is reviewed by the county. The measure—which passed 50% to 48%—could threaten some agricultural companies’ operations in the Aloha State, where year-round growing conditions for decades have drawn seed and chemical companies seeking to develop new products.
More than 90% of corn and soybean acres planted and large shares of other crops grown in the U.S. are products of bioengineering. Critics claim GMO use harms the environment and could pose human health risks, and that consumers have a right to know what is in their food. GMO backers dismiss those claims as wrong or unproven, and say that labeling would unjustly stigmatize technology that helps produce heartier crops and keep food prices down.
The food industry is throwing its support behind a bill introduced earlier this year in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), which would bar individual states from mandating GMO labeling, leaving that authority solely with the Food and Drug Administration. That doesn’t satisfy GMO critics, though, since the FDA already has regulatory authority over food made with genetically engineered ingredients, and has said that GMO products now being sold are safe.
Mr. Pompeo aims to hold a hearing on the bill in the coming weeks, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Vermont’s government in May made it the first state to unilaterally require labeling, starting in 2016. Its law is now facing a lawsuit from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other industry groups.
Monsanto, the biggest seller of genetically modified seeds, plans a legal challenge to the Maui initiative, according to a spokeswoman. She said the measure, if it takes effect, would have “significant negative consequences for the local economy, Hawaii agriculture and our business on the island.” Monsanto employs about 1,000 people in Hawaii.
Dow Chemical Co. , which runs farming operations in Maui County and employs about 170 people on Hawaii’s Molokai and Kauai islands, is considering its options, a spokeswoman said. “[W]e believe that the ban would be illegal, and we intend to protect our legal rights,” she said.
