US Congress 'Not Interested' in Labeling Genetically Altered Foods

sputniknews.com

The US Congress is determined to keep American consumers in the dark about potential risks of genetically altered food, the result of an intense lobbying effort by seed-producing chemical companies and packaged food providers, Organic Consumers Association Political Director Alexis Baden-Mayer told Sputnik.

Baden-Mayer explained that the most common form of gene engineering could be found in "plants altered to produce their own insecticides or to resist herbicides" that were applied externally, and no one knew the long-term consequences of such actions.

"It does not look like this Congress is interested in doing anything," Baden-Mayer said. "There’s a lot of corporate pressure to prevent consumers from having any information about genetic engineering."

On Tuesday, the food lobby scored a major victory when the US Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill that would ban US states from passing genetic labeling laws on their own.