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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (Agriculture.com)— The U.S. should make genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling on food products mandatory for food companies, according USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Mandatory GMO Labeling
In a reporters briefing Friday, at the Commodity Classic, Secretary Vilsack says that he is proposing mandatory labeling because in order to get anything done 60 votes are needed in the U.S. Senate. “That’s the key,” Vilsack says. “If you don’t get this requirement then you create a situation where every company could decide for itself to do something, which could create confusion. Plus, you don’t want state laws that could potentially be at odds."
Vilsack wants to give the food industry some time to create a label. “You give the food industry some time to figure out how flexible the label needs to be, whether it’s a 1-800 number for consumers, a website, a smart label, or something else. And then you use that time to educate people that this label is going to be available, and this is an opportunity for them to know about the food that they are buying.”
Secretary Vilsack believes that the Senate would pass mandatory labeling if it was packaged this way. “I think the House will give it great consideration and the President will sign it,” Vilsack says.
Doing it this way will avoid a chaotic situation in the marketplace, if individual states and companies do things their own way.
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) point out that it will make it easier for American entrepreneurs, farmers, and small business owners to sell Made-In-America products abroad by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes and other trade barriers on American products across the 11 other countries in the TPP.
With presidential candidates, such as Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidates, opposing it, the reporters asked Secretary Vilsack, a TPP supporter, whether it has a chance of getting passed before the new administration takes office.
“Through studies, we know that TPP will increase ag exports, increase ag incomes, and delaying the vote will cost the U.S. economy $94 billion, according to the Peterson Institute. We need to continue to point out that 95% of the world’s consumers live outside of the U.S. So, we need to use agriculture as a benefit to moving this economy forward. So, we make the case and I think there will be adequate votes in the House and Senate to get TPP passed.”
Vilsack says that China can make in-roads on U.S. ag export markets, if TPP is not passed. “Why do we want to cede that advantage to them?”
