An effort to label genetically modified foods in Colorado has failed to garner enough support.
Voters in Colorado rejected the labeling of foods that contain the derivatives of genetically modified - or GMO - crops with 68 percent voting against, versus 32 percent in favor of Proposition 105.
Polling prior to the vote in Colorado was scarce. The polls that were conducted found Colorado鈥檚 measure faced an uphill battle in the final weeks before the election. found only 29 percent of registered voters favored the measure, while 49 percent were likely to vote against it. was even more damning. According to that poll, 59 percent were opposed to GMO labeling, 34 percent in favor and 8 percent were uncertain.
The campaign group opposed to GMO labeling spent millions to quash the ballot measures and sway public opinion, spending more than $15 million in Colorado. Most of that money came from large seed corporations like Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer, and processed food companies like Pepsi, Land O鈥� Lakes and Smucker鈥檚.
鈥淭he reality is campaigns cost money and I鈥檓 really proud to say that groups like Smucker鈥檚, like Pepsi, stood shoulder to to shoulder with the farmers that are growing their ingredients,鈥� says Chad Vorthmann, executive vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, which also contributed to the No on 105 campaign.
Colorado鈥檚 Proposition 105 would鈥檝e required food companies to label packaged foods with the text 鈥減roduced with genetic engineering.鈥� Many processed foods contain soybean oil, corn syrup, refined sugar and cottonseed oil. Those oils and syrups are often derived from GMO crops that farmers have been quick to adopt over the last 18 years. Few whole foods, like the ones you see in the produce aisle, are genetically engineered, though some GE varieties of sweet corn, squash and papaya are approved for sale in the U.S.
The failed measure in Colorado follows a trend. Similar ballot questions in California and Washington state have been rejected in 2012 and 2013, respectively. A GMO labeling law passed through the Vermont legislature in 2014. A coalition of biotech firms and farmer groups filed a lawsuit against Vermont鈥檚 GMO labeling requirements soon after they became law.
around genetically modified crops. , with members like Kraft and Pepsi, earlier in 2014. It鈥檚 yet to gain any significant traction at the federal level.
