The USDA’s Final Rule for GMO Labeling Stinks: New at Reason

The United States Department of Agriculture released its final GMO-labeling rule last week. As Baylen Linnekin predicted earlier this year, the rule is a mess. Critics of the final rule—including many supporters of mandatory GMO labeling—say the rules are confusing, poorly designed, and an affront to all parties in the debate over genetically modified food.

The main practical criticiss of mandatory GMO labeling laws has long been that labeling schemes proposed by anti-GMO advocates were always intended to scare and confuse consumers about genetically engineered foods, rather than to educate them. Whether the agency intended it or not, the USDA’s final rule embraces these shortcomings.

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