Protesters gathered at the New York state Capitol in Albany earlier this month to lobby their legislators to make GMO labels on foods mandatory in the state.
Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
It’s been called “perhaps the most contentious issue in the food industry”: Should food products be labeled to indicate they contain genetically modified ingredients?
Leading Republicans in the Senate tried to answer that question on Wednesday with a clear “no,” but failed. The Senate rejected a bill that would have prevented any state from requiring GMO labels on food. The bill, sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, would have created a voluntary national labeling standard for foods containing GMOs, but it would have blocked Vermont from implementing its first-in-the-nation mandatory GMO labeling law, currently set to take effect on July 1.
The Roberts bil…