[JURIST] In a 63-30 vote, the US Senate [official website] approved legislation [materials] Thursday requiring food packaging to display genetically-modified organism (GMO) contents using words, pictures or scannable bar codes. If passed in the House [official website], this law would stand as a national standard for displaying GMO contents and replace all state-based GMO packaging laws, including more stringent laws in states like Vermont. The law stipulates the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) [official website] will decide which ingredients will constitute being genetically modified. This provision has raised concerns [Reuters article] from groups, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website], in particular because some ingredients, including beet sugar and soybean, can be genetically modified but contain little to no genetic material after being processed and so would not fall within the scope of the legislation. However, the USDA was adamant that it would include these and other similar ingredients in its list of GMOs. Others, including Senator Bernie Sanders, expressed concerns that the law is too ambiguous and will lead to confusion. The food industry, though generally a proponent of GMOs, is more accepting of a uniform national standard as opposed to state-based regulations.

GMO labeling has been a cause for concern in the US. In February 2014 US President Barack Obama signed into law [press release] a $956 billion farm bill [text, PDF] providing expanded crop insurance and other benefits for the agricultural sector and also requiring changes in food labeling. The recent prevalence of GMO crops has been a point of contention in courts around the world. In May 2014 Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill [JURIST report] requiring the labeling of food containing GMOs. In May 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously [JURIST report] in Bowman v. Monsanto [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that a farmer who buys patented seeds may not reproduce them through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission, even though the seeds are altered to self-replicate. In March 2011 the European Court of Justice declared [JURIST report] that a ban on cultivating GMO crops is illegal after France attempted to prohibit the production of a strain of genetically modified maize developed by Monsanto in 2008. In December 2010 a US federal judge ordered the destruction [JURIST report] of a crop of genetically engineered sugar beets due to its potential harmful effect on surrounding flora.