New Consumer Reports Poll Shows Consumer Demand for Strong Federal Standards for Genetically Engineered Food

- 92% Think GE Food Should Be Labeled Before Sold

- 92% Think GE Food Should Meet Government Safety Standards Before Sold

- 92% Demand the Government Label GE Salmon

Yonkers, NY—According to a new national poll by Consumer Reports, an overwhelming majority of U.S. consumers think that before genetically engineered (GE) food is sold, it should be labeled accordingly (92% of consumers) and meet long-term safety standards set by the government (92%). The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) currently does not require labeling or pre-market safety assessments of GE food.

Similarly, 92% of Americans specifically agreed that the government should require that GE salmon be labeled before it is sold. The FDA is considering whether to approve a GE salmon, which is designed to grow to maturity twice as fast as normal salmon, and has said that it does not intend to require labeling. In addition, nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers polled said that it’s crucial for them to avoid GE ingredients when purchasing food.

There was a celebration on the Statehouse steps in May when Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law that made Vermont the first state to require labeling of genetically modified foods.

92% Think GE Food Should Be Labeled Before Sold; 92% Think GE Food Should Meet Government Safety Standards Before Sold; 92% Demand the Government Label GE Salmon

More than 20 percent of residents who voted in the last election support putting a temporary moratorium on genetically modified farming on the ballot this year.

Last month, when Vermont passed a new law requiring food and beverage manufacturers to label genetically modified foods, Big Food went ballistic. The Grocers’ Manufacturers’ Association, a trade group that represents Monsanto, General Mills, Coca-Cola, and other giant food companies, warned that the labeling law—the first of its kind in the nation—was "costly" and "critically flawed," and vowed to sue the state to force it to scrap the measure.

In an open letter released today 17 national and international consumer, environmental, women’s health and farming groups called on leading “natural” cleaning and personal care products manufacturer Ecover and its U.S.-based subsidiary, Method Products Inc., to cancel plans to use oils and other ingredients derived from synthetic biology, a new and unregulated set of genetic engineering techniques.

The San Francisco startup recently received $31.1 million in funding from investors and DARPA to develop an automated, highly efficient platform for gene manufacturing.

DuPont Co. (DD), the maker of Pioneer genetically modified corn, was sued for $1 billion by an investment fund that claims company directors promoted herbicide-resistant crop traits knowing they didn’t work.

If genetically modified salmon gets a green light by the federal government, it will be labeled as such if U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle have their way.

The near-extinct American chestnut looks set to make a comeback. Genetically modified trees, which are resistant to a deadly fungus that has decimated the species, have produced the first resistant chestnuts. From these seeds, countless resistant trees could be grown in the wild.