By Carey Gillam
Jan 16 (Reuters) – Four U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to require manufacturers to label food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients.
The groups delivered a letter to the president dated Jan. 16 reminding Obama of a campaign pledge the groups said he made in 2007 as he campaigned in Iowa to work to label so-called GMO foods.
The issue is hotly contested, with more than 20 states considering laws to mandate labeling of foods made with gene-altered corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other biotech crops. Currently, labeling of such foods is voluntary.
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Advocates of labeling say consumers deserve to know if the food they eat contains GMOs. But the makers of biotech crops, and many large food manufacturers have fought against mandatory labeling, arguing that genetically modified crops are not materially different and pose no safety risk, and labeling would mislead consumers.
Among the signatories on Thursday’s letter to President Obama are the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, cereal maker Nature’s Path, organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms, the Consumer Federation of America and several environmental and health groups.
“We believe there should be a mandatory national labeling system. FDA has a duty to act when the absence of labeling would leave consumers confused about the foods they buy,” the groups said in their letter.
Four Democratic members of Congress held a press conference on Thursday to support the call on Obama for mandatory labeling – Peter DeFazio from Oregon; Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut; Ann McLane Kuster from New Hampshire; and Chellie Pingree from Maine.
The move comes as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is pushing Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to pre-empt any state labeling mandates in favor of a federal standard for voluntary labeling, and to allow some GMO foods to be labeled “natural.”
