Center for Food Safety sues Trump administration over GMO labeling delay
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to abide by the mandatory deadlines Congress set in the 2016 National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to abide by the mandatory deadlines Congress set in the 2016 National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard. That law required that its regulations be finished by two years after its enactment, or July 29, 2018. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), which is assigned to draft and issue the new labeling rules, missed the final rules deadline. On August 1, CFS went to court to get a mandated schedule for completion and judicial oversight of the USDA, to ensure timely completion of the rules.
“Americans have waited for decades for GE foods to be labeled, which Congress knew when it ordered USDA to get this done in a reasonable timeframe,” said George Kimbrell, CFS legal director. “Trump, Perdue, and their corporate lobbyists may want indefinite delay and keeping Americans in the dark, but the law doesn’t permit it.”
The comment period on the USDA proposal ended July 3 with more 14,000 comments received. The USDA now needs to go through those comments, consider them, and finalize its regulations—a process that could take several months. The agency has not commented on the delay.
CFS lawsuit (pdf)