GMO Labels are Starting to Happen – Because of You

This is incredible.

For the first time, we’re starting to see labels on foods with genetically engineered (GMO) ingredients in the United States. Over 90% of Americans want these labels, but until recently, it was nearly impossible to know if the foods you were eating contained GMOs. Now that’s changing, because of a law in Vermont that will require GMO labeling starting on July 1… and because of you.

People like you, who care about what’s in our food, defended Vermont’s new law from being overturned in Congress. Corporations like Monsanto have lobbied hard to prevent states from requiring GMO labels, but hundreds of thousands of people told their senators to stay strong, and they listened. Food & Water Watch supporters have done so much in 2016 alone to protect GMO labeling, including:

• Over 203,921 emails to senators
• Over 14,577 phone calls to Senate offices
• Dozens of meetings with key Senate staff and over 70 deliveries of petitions to Senate offices
• Dozens of letters to the editor in papers around the country

If you’ve taken part in any of these actions, you’ve been part of making GMO labeling happen. And the pressure has worked. In March, the Senate voted to block Monsanto’s Dream Bill, and in the meantime, companies getting ready to comply with Vermont’s law have begun rolling out labeling voluntarily on their products nationwide—without raising the price! That’s not enough – we need to keep pushing until we have mandatory labeling in all 50 states – but it’s an incredible first step, and a testament to the fact that we can hold our elected officials accountable to us, not corporations.

We’re far from done, and we expect Monsanto and their friends to make a last-ditch attempt to stop Vermont’s law from taking effect. (You can take action again, even if you have already, and tell your senators not to give in.) But we’ve done an incredible thing together already, and if we keep working together, we believe we really can achieve GMO labeling for all.