May 24, 2013

CT HOUSE APPROVES LANDMARK LEGISLATION
ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Rep. Pat Dillon hailed the historic passage of legislation to label genetically modified foods. The legislation was approved by the House of Representatives early this morning.

“Just as Connecticut proved to be a national pioneer with its assault weapon ban, we are leading the way on labeling genetically modified foods,” Rep. Dillon said.

The bill requires the labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). As Connecticut is leading the charge on this issue, the legislation sets in place several safeguards to ensure we are not the only state to require labeling and ensure that Connecticut maintains a strong capacity for locally grown food. The legislation was amended to remove the bill’s “stand-alone” provision – meaning:

• Five states must adopt similar labeling requirements before Connecticut would institute its GMO labeling requirement
  
  
• At least two states with labeling requirements would need to be near Connecticut
  
  
• The total population of the participating states must exceed 25 million

“Advocates argue for GMO labeling because corporate practices may pose a threat to health,” Rep. Dillon said. “But equally important is the threat to biodiversity, because of their patenting of genes and hostility to open seeded varieties.”

Rep. Dillon was an early sponsor of the original GMO labeling proposal and will cosponsor this legislation as well.

The amended legislation must be approved by the state Senate.