Thursday, October 24, 2013

WA's GMO foods labeling initiative is nation's ballot measure to watch « Watchdog.org

WA's GMO foods labeling initiative is nation's ballot measure to watch « Watchdog.org:

All eyes, or perhaps stomachs, are focused onWashington state as the Nov. 5 election approaches.
A measure that asks voters if the state should require food with genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled has the attention of the country.
“It’s a really big measure, I think one of the top fivemost important measures of this year,” Brittany Clingen, ballot measures project director for Ballotpedia, told Northwest Watchdog. Ballotpedia is a nonprofit, non-partisan encyclopedia of state, local and federal politics and elections.
Other states have broached the issue, but the question of labeling GMOs is still largely undecided. Maine and Connecticut passed labeling laws this past summer, but they won’t take effect unless additional states follow suit. And state legislatures have approved GMO labeling laws, but the subject has never been approved via a ballot measure, Clingen said.
Ballots have been mailed in Washington and the campaigns for and against the labeling of GMO foods are cooking with TV ads flooding local channels. Washington voters will consider two ballot initiatives this year — the GMO measure (I-522) and an initiative that extends the signature-gathering period for citizens’ initiatives (I-517). Though there aren’t that many measures — an exceptionally low measure year, Clingen said — the prominence of the GMO foods initiative makes this 2013 Special Election a big deal.

No comments:

Post a Comment