WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement regarding the recent Senate passage of compromise legislation on the labeling of foods whose ingredients contain genetically modified organisms (GMO).

“Few things matter to the public health of the American people as much as the food we put in our bodies, which is why I fully believe that we need a single, national GMO labeling policy. It will be too difficult for our Maryland businesses to comply with labeling standards in 50 different states, and our businesses need the certainty that federal policy brings. Consumers also want the certainty of knowing what is in their food. Sadly, the compromise legislation that emerged from the Senate did not fully ensure that either of these concerns was addressed. With measures that allowed for unclear statements on the labels themselves and loopholes for ubiquitous ingredients like high-fructose corn-syrup and oil made from soybeans, I reluctantly had to vote against the bill.”

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