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States  Introduce Numerous Bills to Regulate Genetically Modified Foods
by Britt  Bailey
http://environmentalcommons.org/gmo-regulation-2007.html  

Following a two-year span during which the corporate farming sector  lobbied 
heavily in support of state bills aimed at keeping local governments  from 
regulating genetically modified organisms (GMOs), 2007 state legislatures  are 
now filled with bills confirming farmer and consumer concerns about such  foods 
and crops. 

It has been a decade since multinational corporations  began blanketing the 
planet with their patented varieties of genetically  modified seed. With little 
government oversight, poll after poll has shown that  consumers would like to 
see greater supervision of genetic engineering including  all-out limitations 
on their cultivation. 

From late 2004-2006, nearly  twenty state legislatures attempted to subdue 
the growing resistance to  genetically modified organisms. In the wake of four 
California counties and  numerous New England towns passing local measures 
restricting the growing of  genetically engineered foods, states began passing 
"preemption" laws removing  the ability of local governments to regulate seeds 
and plants. 

Nearly  every state hearing on the preemption bills erupted into an emotional 
discourse  on the specific impacts of growing GMOs and the toll which this 
mode of farming  exacts on the environment and public health. Inadequate federal 
oversight,  economic impacts, risks to organic practices, lack of legal 
liability in the  event of contamination, need for public notification, potential 
health concerns,  and harm to natural resources were all listed as reasons why 
local communities  should be able to decide whether genetically modified foods 
should or should not  be grown. Thus far, Missouri is the only state that 
seems to be shoving the  concerns related to genetic engineering under the rug. 
Unlike prior years, when  state preemption bills had company, Missouri's SB364 
is the only bill in 2007  introduced to remove local authority over anything 
related to farming.  

Legislators seem to be responding to the wishes of the people. Already  in 
2007, state capitols are filled with bills aimed at protecting small family  
farming systems and consumers from the impacts of genetically modified foods.  
Perhaps it is a combination of continued public outcry, along with the rice  
contamination fiasco that occurred in August 2006 (when an unapproved  
genetically engineered rice variety caused billions of dollars of damage to  farmers 
throughout the United States), that is giving legislators enough  backbone to 
defy the wishes of the multinational corporate agriculture industry.  

Under current US law, the makers of the genetically modified crops bear  no 
responsibility for damages caused when the crops spread through environmental  
or human action. Now, four states are carrying bills making the agricultural  
biotechnology industry liable in the event another contamination occurs. Three 
 states are hearing bills calling for a moratorium on food crops genetically  
engineered to produce pharmaceuticals. Illinois and Tennessee are calling for 
 labeling of foods derived from genetically engineered crops. Five states,  
California, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, and South Dakota, are calling for  
notification systems in which genetically modified foods become a part of the  
public record. 

After ten years of national public debate over the  effects of 
commercializing genetically modified organisms, we seem to be turning  a regulatory corner. 
Perhaps State legislators have recognized that federal  regulations are 
inadequate to protect their state farming interests. Perhaps  they have recognized 
that the regulatory offices of Monsanto and Dow are simply  too close to the 
offices of the USDA, FDA, and Congress. As states continue to  introduce bills 
protecting against the impacts arising from growing genetically  modified 
organisms, will the federal government act next to preempt the states?  

All of this begs the question, where is the oversight of farming and  
agriculture best deliberated - at the local, state, or national level? Given the  
federal government's track record on the issue, we may want keep it local and  
allow communities and farmers to decide how best to regulate their soils and  
foods. 

To stay up to date on GMO bills introduced in states across the  United 
States, see Environmental Commons' "Food Democracy Tracker,"  
http://environmentalcommons.org/gmo-tracker.html


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