[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL BIOENGINEERED FOOD DISCLOSURE STANDARD
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wish to join my colleague from Michigan,
the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator
Stabenow, in a colloquy regarding the scope of the products that could
be labeled under the GMO labeling legislation.
Does the Senator from Michigan believe that the definition of GMO
included in this bill prohibits the labeling of highly refined products
derived from GMO crops, including soybean oil made from GMO soybeans,
high fructose corn syrup made from GMO corn, and sugar made from GMO
sugar beets?
Ms. STABENOW. I thank the Senator from Vermont for joining me in this
colloquy for the purpose of bringing greater clarity to the definition
included in this bill and the scope of GMO products that could be
labeled.
The intent of this legislation is to create a national mandatory
disclosure standard for GMO foods. This bill gives USDA broad authority
to determine, through rulemaking and with important input from the
public and scientific community and after review of both State and
international laws, what foods will be subject to this bill's mandatory
disclosure standard, including highly refined products derived from GMO
crops and products developed using gene editing techniques. The USDA
general counsel, in a response letter dated July 1, stated that the
Department has broad authority under this bill to require labels on GMO
foods and products, including all commercially available GMO corn,
soybeans, sugar beets, and canola crops used in food today.
To answer your specific question, no, this bill does not prohibit the
labeling of highly refined products derived from GMO crops including
soybean oil made from GMO soybeans, high fructose corn syrup made from
GMO corn, and sugar made from GMO sugar beets.
Mr. LEAHY. Does the Senator from Michigan also believe that the
definition of GMO food included in this bill prohibits the labeling of
ingredients from plants genetically modified through new and yet to be
developed gene editing techniques in addition to the recombinant DNA
editing technique mentioned in the bill?
Ms. STABENOW. No, the bill does not prohibit the labeling of products
developed using gene editing techniques, including RNAi and CRISPR.
Additionally, the bill gives the USDA broad authority to periodically
amend its labeling regulations to ensure that there are no new
scientific biotechnology methods that may escape any overly
prescriptive statutory definition of biotechnology.
Mr. LEAHY. I thank the Senator from Michigan for joining me in this
colloquy for the purpose of bringing greater clarity to the
congressional intent regarding the definition of GMO products contained
in this bill.
I ask unanimous consent that the USDA general counsel's response
letter dated July 1, 2016, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
United States Department
of Agriculture,
July 1, 2016.
Hon. Debbie Stabenow,
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Stabenow, Thank you for your letter of June
29, 2016, inquiring as to the scope and applicability of the
GMO labeling legislation currently pending before the U.S.
Senate. The United States Department of Agriculture, as the
lead implementing agency, has carefully studied this
legislation from legal, program policy, and scientific
aspects. I will respond in turn below to the questions raised
in your letter.
(1) Please explain whether the GMO Labeling Law provides
authority to the USDA to require labeling of food products
that contain widely used commodity crops, like corn,
soybeans, sugar, and canola, which have been genetically
modified, as defined by Section 291(1)?
Section 291(1) of the Senate bill provides authority to
include food in the national disclosure program, including
all of the commercially grown GMO corn, soybeans, sugar, and
canola crops used in food today and reviewed and approved by
USDA's Biotechnology Regulatory Service.
(2) Please explain whether the GMO Labeling Law provides
authority to the USDA to require labeling of food products
that contain genetically modified material, which result from
gene editing techniques?
Section 291(1) of the Senate bill provides authority to
include food in the national disclosure program, including
products of certain gene editing techniques. This would
include novel gene editing techniques such as CRISPR when
they are used to produce plants or seeds with traits that
could not be created with conventional breeding techniques.
In addition, the definition provides authority to include
RNAi techniques that have been used on products such as the
non-browning apple and potato.
(3) Please explain whether the GMO Labeling Law provides
authority to the USDA to require labeling of food products,
which may or may not contain highly refined oils, sugars, or
high fructose corn syrup that have been produced or developed
from genetic modification techniques, as defined by Section
291(1)?
Section 291(1) of the Senate bill provides authority to
include food in the national disclosure program, including
products which may or may not contain highly refined oils,
sugars, or high fructose corn syrup that have been produced
or developed from genetic modification techniques. As a
practical matter of implementation, the Department would look
not only at the definition in Section 291(1) regarding the
genetically modified crops used to produce the refined or
extracted materials, but also consider authority provided
under Section 293(b)(2)(B) and Section 293(b)(2)(C) with
respect to the amount of a bioengineered substance present
and other factors and considerations which might deem the
product to be considered bioengineered food.
If needed, my team and our USDA programmatic and scientific
experts are available to discuss any aspects of the
legislation in greater detail at your request. Please do not
hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey M. Prieto,
General Counsel.
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