State labeling initiatives

This article was originally published in August 2014

Two more GMO labeling initiatives appear headed for the ballot this November.

Supporters in Oregon turned in more signatures than the number needed to qualify. Signature-gathering also is underway in Colorado, where the campaign is on target, at press time, to submit the necessary number of signatures.

Legislatures in three East Coast states — Vermont, Connecticut and Maine — already have passed GE labeling bills in the past year.

Meanwhile, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has lost a bid to toss out Washington state’s money-laundering lawsuit.

Washington’s attorney general, Bob Ferguson, charged the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm with laundering millions of dollars in last fall’s campaign to label genetically engineered (GE) foods, saying it’s the largest amount of money ever concealed in a state election.

Also in this issue

Letters to the editor, August 2014

Global warming and agriculture, Healthy sunscreen, Sugar in recipes, and more

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The unexpected consequences of antibiotics

The damage antibiotics could do to our microbiome — the trillions of microbes living in our gut — is just being discovered. Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, asthma and obesity are just a few of the increasing chronic health problems linked to antibiotics.

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New FDA regulations for "gluten-free"

As of this month, gluten-free claims must conform with new regulations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requiring that foods labeled "gluten-free" must be free of wheat, barley or rye, and that "any unavoidable presence of gluten" must result in less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten.

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