Think Tank Petitions FDA to Prohibit Use of “Non-GMO” on Labels

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has submitted a citizen petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) challenging the use of labeling that asserts that products are free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). “[T]he ‘Non-GMO’ Project’s butterfly logo and language on consumer foods and goods misleads and deceives consumers through false and misleading claims about foods, food ingredients and their characteristics related to health and safety,” the petition argues. ITIF urges FDA “to prohibit the use of the term ‘Non-GMO’ on consumer foods and goods” because it allegedly constitutes “misbranding under the law.”

ITIF objects to the Non-GMO Project’s distinction between “natural” foods and those made with GMOs. “The techniques used to bioengineer crops and livestock to produce foods were discovered as natural phenomena, and the enzymes and reagents involved are all extracted or derived from sources in nature. While in vitro bioengineering methods may produce ‘combinations of … genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods,’ recombination as it takes place in nature is also constantly generating novel combinations of genes, and there is nothing intrinsic to such novel combinations from either source that allows any predictions with regard to their safety.”