With celebrity support, anti-GMO petition appears on Capitol Hill

The movement advocating for stricter label regulations for GMO products has attracted ordinary Americans and celebrities alike. On Wednesday, Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow spoke on Capitol Hill before congressional leaders like Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Barbara Boxer of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Paltrow was there to deliver a petition with 200,000 signatures calling for food manufacturers to adequately label GMOs. 

Specifically under fire is the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, which critics accuse of denying the public information about foods. Paltrow and cosigners of the petition hope President Obama will veto the bill and back something with stricter requirements. 

“What they did not acknowledge was that GMO labels won’t tell you what you want to know, not about pesticides or toxins,” writes Tony Dokoupil of MSNBC. “It won’t tell you about the wages and working conditions of the farm workers who harvested the food. It won’t tell you about the size of the company that grew the food, or the treatment of the livestock that ate the food as feed.”

Instead, the sole focus on whether genetically modified organisms are used in foods has been dubbed a form of “pseudoscience.” Few studies have substantiated claims that the ingredients cause adverse long-term health effects.

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