Prop 37 fails, but the 'Yes' campaign won't take 'No' for an answer
As the nation went to bed on Tuesday knowing that president Obama had been re-elected, it woke up on Wednesday to learn that controversial Californian GMO labeling initiative Prop 37 had been narrowly defeated (53% against, 47% in favor).
But few people we spoke to at Supply Side West - on either side of the debate - expect the GMO labeling issue to go away, with some predicting copy-cat proposals in other states.
Speaking at an election special session on Thursday morning, Natural Products Association president John Shaw said that this would be bad news for industry: "Having a patchwork of different state laws that address the GMO issue is not in the industry's best interests."
Should such a scenario emerge, a federal solution may have to be developed in order to ensure that labeling is consistent across all states and that some of the problematic aspects of Prop 37 are addressed such as the 'natural' definition and the bounty hunter clauses, added Council for Responsible Nutrition government relations VP Mike Greene.
