Three years ago, I lobbied at the Iowa legislature against a bill that would pre-empt local control over genetically modified seed. Such "seed preemption" bills were passed in 15 states, including Iowa. Back then, biotech supporters said the state bills were necessary to avoid a "patchwork" of local city and county seed laws. But their main aim was to stop initiatives by local cities and counties to declare themselves GMO-free as several California counties did in 2004.

But, what was bad back then to biotech supporters is good today. Today, Monsanto Company and its supporters want to create a patchwork of state laws-to pre-empt dairy manufacturers from labeling dairy products as free of Monsanto's genetically modified bovine growth hormone, rBGH. Monsanto is relentless. Seeing major dairies, supermarket chains, and food manufacturers nationwide dumping rBGH, the biotech giant sent letters to the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission last year asking them to crack down on rBGH-free labels. Monsanto argued that such labels were misleading consumers about the safety of milk from rBGH-injected cows. The agencies refused to act. So Monsanto decided to work on state legislatures. Their front group, American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, introduced bills in state legislatures to ban rBGH-free labels.

To date, the bills have received little support. Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary passed a law banning the labels then backed off after massive opposition. A hearing on a similar bill in New Jersey went nowhere. Another bill in Indiana died in committee. Other bills have been proposed in Kansas, Utah, Missouri (Surprise! Monsanto's home state), and Vermont. Ohio passed a bill that restricts labeling of rBGH-free milk. Manufacturers can only use a statement that says the milk does not come from cows "supplemented" with the hormone. "Supplemented" is the preferred language to Monsanto, suggesting that cows are being fed a nutritious vitamin. In reality, the hormone, which the agriculture secretary of New Hampshire once described as "steroids for cows," is injected into them.

There is a method to Monsanto's madness with these bills. A patchwork of state rBGH-free  labeling laws will discourage food manufacturers from using the labels because they will have to comply with different laws in different states. No labels, no consumer choice.

But to Monsanto, it means no misled consumers. It's another example of the twisted logic used by biotech proponents to foist their products on unwilling and unwitting American consumers. A patchwork of local seed laws is bad, but a patchwork of state laws banning rBGH-free labels is good.  GM seed is unique and patentable, while GM food is substantially equivalent to normal food.

At a time when more and more people want to know where their food comes from and how it is produced, Monsanto wants to deny that right. Hopefully, states won't let them.

(Ken Roseboro is editor and publisher of The Organic & Non-GMO Report, http://www.non-gmoreport.com . He can be reached at ken@non-gmoreport.com.)