2014-10-01 | permalink

70 groups tell Obama: Don’t restrict GMO labeling in trade agreements

Consumer rights on the table in US-EU trade talks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Seventy consumer, farm and food groups, and businesses urged the Obama Administration in a letter today not to restrict efforts to label genetically modified foods in the ongoing and secret U.S.-EU trade talks. Through negotiations on the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) with the European Union, the U.S. Trade Representative seeks to establish common regulations covering consumer protections, and has targeted the European Union’s regulations of genetically modified foods, which includes consumer labeling. U.S. and EU agribusiness firms have been open about their desire to eliminate GMO labeling laws under TAFTA—including the rising number of U.S. states moving to require GMO labeling. “Once again, the USTR is working to give corporations their TAFTA-created 'rights' to violate the rights and wishes of people to know what is in their food,” said Dena Hoff, VP of the National Family Farm Coalition. “GMO labeling is desired by at least three of every four consumers; it is time for the USTR to respect the sovereignty of nations and the desires of the people who live in them instead of telling consumers to ‘eat and shut up, or else.’” The groups expressed concerns that a TAFTA chapter called “technical barriers to trade” would limit governments’ ability to maintain or establish product labels for consumers. This year, Vermont was the first state to pass required GMO labeling without any restrictions. Maine and Connecticut passed GMO labeling laws last year contingent on neighboring states also passing GMO labeling laws. More than 20 states are also considering laws, including major GMO labeling initiatives on the ballot in Colorado and Oregon this fall.

• 70 groups tell Obama: Don’t restrict GMO labeling in trade agreements | Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• The letter: Dear Ambassador Froman