I received an email from CREDO about efforts to forbid labeling of GMO products. (See petition here: )
Personally, I'm not against GMO's just because they're GMO's. The science articles I see don't seem to suggest they are generally known to be harmful. However, I do question whether producers of GMO products are required to do adequate scientific testing to determine what effects may result from use of their product.
But when it comes to labeling, it doesn't seem to me that is the real issue. It may be a legitimate choice for food regulation to require that a product say whether or not it contains meat products so vegetarians or people who follow religious practices (such as kosher) can choose if or when to use a product. This is not a matter of saying meat products are bad, harmful or should otherwise be anything other than a personal choice.
The same kinds of people who would insist on "states rights" when progressive federal legislation was proposed will support efforts to pass federal legislation which forbids states from having GMO labeling laws.
Forbidding labeling of products as having meat or GMO's will make consumer choices more difficult. It also begs the question what might be next. Currently, food and some other products have labeling for ingredients and nutritional facts. This labeling is not just about contents which are generally harmful to the average person. Label information can include the number of calories. Calories are not even a substance or ingredient in the normal sense. Calories essentially indicate the amount of energy available in an item. (A body which gets more than it needs may store it away in fat for possible future use.) Calories are essential for life. They have the potential of long-term harm if taken in excess, but nobody should refuse to buy a product simply because it possesses calories. So, if labeling for GMO's is forbidden, what else might be removed from labeling next?