![\"gmolabel\"](\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/gmolabel-150x150.jpg\")
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An effort to label foods made with genetically modified organisms<\/a> (GMOs) in Hawaii<\/a> was resuscitated in the state Legislature, but quickly died in a committee meeting on Thursday, reports The Huffington Post<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_327596\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"500\"] Representative Jessica Wooley (D-Kaneohe), chairwoman of the House Agriculture Committee, gutted an agriculture bill and dropped in the GMO-labeling requirements.<\/p>\n Supporters told the committee that Hawaiians should know what’s going into their foods.<\/p>\n “As a farmer and a consumer, I want to know if my food has been modified,” said Robert Petricci, a representative of Puna Pono Alliance, an 1,800-member group that advocates for sustainable, healthy policies, according to The Huffington Post<\/em>. “At present, it’s almost impossible to know what’s GMO free.”<\/p>\n Wooley called the legislative item a “gut-and-replace” bill, which irritated her fellow committee members since the bill was amended so quickly.<\/p>\n They challenged the manner in which the bill was written, asking how the state could realistically enforce labeling laws. <\/p>\n Rep. Isaac Choy (D-Manoa) asked how state regulators would figure out if a certain food had been mislabeled given the lack of resources that would be needed for identification purposes.<\/p>\n In light of the resistance, Wooley deferred the bill indefinitely, which knocked it out of consideration for this legislative session.<\/p>\n Taking Action<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though 64 countries have mandated the labeling of GMO foods, the U.S. has been slow to adopt such regulation. Connecticut<\/a> and Maine<\/a> have passed labeling laws, but the rules do not go into effect until at least three other states establish the same requirement.<\/p>\n Sixty-seven GMO labeling bills<\/a> have been introduced in 25 states. In 12 of those states, at least one legislative committee has approved a GMO bill.<\/p>\n Other states with pending legislation on GMO labeling include California, Maryland<\/a>, Missouri, Minnesota and Rhode Island. In Arizona, Colorado<\/a>, Florida and Oregon efforts are in motion to put the question on the ballot.<\/p>\n![\"gmolabel\"](\"http:\/\/files.cdn.ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/gmolabel.jpg\")
<\/a> Politicians and attorneys general in over 20 U.S. states are now pursuing GMO labeling bills. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock<\/a>[\/caption]\n
![Photo courtesy of Shutterstock<\/a>[\/caption]\nRepresentative Jessica Wooley (D-Kaneohe), chairwoman of the House Agriculture Committee, gutted an agriculture bill and dropped in the GMO-labeling requirements.<\/p>\nSupporters told the committee that Hawaiians should know what’s going into their foods.<\/p>\n“As a farmer and a consumer, I want to know if my food has been modified,” said Robert Petricci, a representative of Puna Pono Alliance, an 1,800-member group that advocates for sustainable, healthy policies, according to The Huffington Post<\/em>. “At present, it’s almost impossible to know what’s GMO free.”<\/p>\nWooley called the legislative item a “gut-and-replace” bill, which irritated her fellow committee members since the bill was amended so quickly.<\/p>\nThey challenged the manner in which the bill was written, asking how the state could realistically enforce labeling laws. <\/p>\nRep. Isaac Choy (D-Manoa) asked how state regulators would figure out if a certain food had been mislabeled given the lack of resources that would be needed for identification purposes.<\/p>\nIn light of the resistance, Wooley deferred the bill indefinitely, which knocked it out of consideration for this legislative session.<\/p>\nTaking Action<\/strong><\/p>\nEven though 64 countries have mandated the labeling of GMO foods, the U.S. has been slow to adopt such regulation. Connecticut<\/a> and Maine<\/a> have passed labeling laws, but the rules do not go into effect until at least three other states establish the same requirement.<\/p>\nSixty-seven GMO labeling bills<\/a> have been introduced in 25 states. In 12 of those states, at least one legislative committee has approved a GMO bill.<\/p>\nOther states with pending legislation on GMO labeling include California, Maryland<\/a>, Missouri, Minnesota and Rhode Island. In Arizona, Colorado<\/a>, Florida and Oregon efforts are in motion to put the question on the ballot.<\/p>\nVisit EcoWatch’s <\/strong>GMO<\/strong><\/a> page for more related news on this topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,57],"tags":[4737,1791,10215,12433,249,12202],"class_list":["post-23518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-building-posts","category-leed-news","tag-featured","tag-food","tag-genetically-engineered-foods","tag-gmo-labeling","tag-hawaii","tag-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/downloading_tips.mhtml?code=&id=148204901&size=small&image_format=jpg&method=download&super_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTM5NTQ2NDE2OCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTQ4MjA0OTAxIiwicCI6InYxfDExMzQ2ODY1fDE0ODIwNDkwMSIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xNDgyMDQ5MDEvc21hbGwuanBnIiwibSI6IjEiLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIkhBR2RSY3Y3Z2NPQXR1a1gxTHJYZkpHUElDOCJd%2Fshutterstock_148204901.jpg&racksite_id=ny&chosen_subscription=redownload_standard&license=standard&src=udAzp5gBCH7KrPIlYXAT3g-1-0\"){kind=link}