New Mexico, Washington Support GMO Labeling Legislation

New Mexico has joined Washington and California in considering GM (genetically modified) labeling on food products. Sponsored by state Senator Peter Wirth (D), the proposal (S.B. 18) seeks to amend the New Mexico Food Act and Commercial Feed Law to require the labeling of any food or commercial animal feed containing more than 1 percent of GM material. It would also require the label to be “conspicuous and easily understandable to consumers.”

The bill is the latest in a series of state-based initiatives aiming to force
companies to label foods containing GM ingredients and follows California’s
Proposition 37—which was narrowly defeated in November 2012—and
Washington’s I-522, a citizen-backed initiative which recently secured enough
signatures to go be submitted to the secretary of state.