YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Progress on GMO labeling compromise?

By Gene Hall

There is word that a compromise in Congress on Vermont’s badly flawed GMO labeling bill could be near. Let’s all hope so. It’s folly that one misguided state legislature could impose a mostly unworkable system on the entire nation.

Some say, just label it. But I assume you want the rules, inspections and separated systems for storage and transportation. Yes, it will have costs.

What about the exemptions? You bet. There are a bunch of them. Alcoholic beverages is one–most of them anyway. Meat products and processed dairy products would require no label, unless there is GMO sugar, of course. Lots of restaurant food is exempt.

If all this sounds confusing, relax with this thought. No product of biotechnology has ever caused ANY harm to human health or the environment. There is no evidence of even one instance.

But Congress, let’s please resolve this and put the silliest food fight in history to rest.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

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