Texas Farm Bureau supports national GMO preemption bill

Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) is supporting proposed Senate legislation that establishes federal preemption of what was expected to grow into an unruly patchwork of state mandatory GMO labeling laws.

The agreement, reached between Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts and ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow, would use a narrow definition of genetic engineering. It would exempt the newest biotech methods, such as gene editing, from the national disclosure standards.

“Although there are some reservations with the compromise language, the legislation is far superior to a patchwork of state-by-state mandates that would be unworkable and detrimental to production agriculture,” TFB President Russell Boening said. "There is no science-based evidence to support mandatory labeling of biotechnology products, but the label requirement is not as difficult as we had feared."

The Roberts-Stabenow agreement comes days before Vermont’s labeling law takes effect July 1.