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BOSTON/State Property – The Massachusetts legislature is at the moment reviewing 3 bills this session that might lead to meals goods containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) to carry identifying labels.
In a public hearing Tuesday the Joint Committee on Public Well being deemed testimony for and against the bills, even though about 150 anti-GMO protestors filled the hearing space following a brief rally outside the State Residence.
Jack Kittredge, policy director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association, told Open Media Boston, “the concern of labeling GMO food has been about for quite a even though. GMO food   started getting into the marketplace nearly 20 years ago, and a number of folks have been associating that with a quantity of human health problems ever given that, and much more and far more people are now concerned .”
In testimony to the Committee, Gregory Costa, director of state affairs at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, stated, “offered that the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and several other scientific and regulatory bodies have determined that food products containing genetically-modified components are secure, and that their material are no different from their standard counterparts, a mandatory label [stating] there’s genetically modified ingredients in the product does not provide the consumer with any helpful info or actionable details .”
The FDA at the moment does not need mandatory labeling, but it does situation recommendations to industry on voluntary labeling of goods containing GMOs, where:
• A bioengineered meals is significantly different from its traditional counterpart,
• If an issue exists for the food or a constituent of the food regarding how the meals is used or consequences of its use,
• If a bioengineered food has a considerably various nutritional house,
• If a new meals consists of an allergen that customers would not expect to be present based on the name of the food.
Kittredge explained the push for meals labeling further, saying “the concept is that people want to be able to have it clear on any kind of food that they get no matter whether it is genetically modified or not, in which case I expect most of them would refuse to acquire it, or get something else, and that would alter the whole marketplace about.”