Baylen Linnekin: Taking Exception to Vermont’s Proposed GMO Labeling Rules

Earlier this
week, Vermont released a draft of the regulations it proposes to
adopt in order to enforce the state’s mandatory GMO-labeling
law.

“The nine pages of rules released Wednesday lay out everything
from definitions of ‘food’ and ‘genetic engineering’ to the
required disclosures on packaging that will read ‘Produced with
Genetic Engineering,'” notes an Associated
Press piece on
the proposed regulations.

The proposed rules themselves
are interesting enough—but then so are the numerous exceptions
built into them.

Unsurprisingly, many of them appear to have Vermont farmers and
dairy interests in mind.

The real costs might be borne by Vermont’s farmers, writes
Baylen Linnekin. The requirements in the proposed rules that
sellers affirm that any products sold without a GMO label are free
from GMOs via a sworn statement may prove daunting.

“I don’t want to say our cheese is non-GMO if I can’t prove it,”
said Angela Miller of Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm, a small,
sustainable producer, in comments to
the Guardian earlier this year.

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