Second Circuit Court of Appeals

Pro- and Anti- Camps Square up for Battle Over Vermont GMO Labeling Law

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) will go to court on Thursday (Oct 8) in a last-ditch attempt to convince judges that a GMO labeling law due to come into effect in Vermont next year should be blocked until litigation over the legislation is resolved.

The GMA wants the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a decision made by U.S. District court judge Christina Reiss in April (Reiss refused to grant an injunction blocking the Vermont law), and says that unless the clock stops, its members will incur huge costs and supply chain challenges in order to comply with an unconstitutional and impractical law that may later be overturned (or suspended by federal legislation).

October 6, 2015 | Source: Food Navigator USA | by Elaine Watson

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) will go to court on Thursday (Oct 8) in a last-ditch attempt to convince judges that a GMO labeling law due to come into effect in Vermont next year should be blocked until litigation over the legislation is resolved.

The GMA wants the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a decision made by U.S. District court judge Christina Reiss in April (Reiss refused to grant an injunction blocking the Vermont law), and says that unless the clock stops, its members will incur huge costs and supply chain challenges in order to comply with an unconstitutional and impractical law that may later be overturned (or suspended by federal legislation).

Oral arguments for the GMA and other trade associations plus Vermont attorney general William Sorrell will begin at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday morning.

Time is running out

However, the GMA’s executive vice president, strategic communications, Roger Lowe, ackknowledge that time was running out, as the judges would not likely make a ruling on the injunction for weeks or even months.

In the meantime, food manufacturers and retailers remain stuck between a rock and a hard place, because whatever happens regarding the lawsuit, the Vermont GMO legislation (Act 120) will likely come into effect first (July 1, 2016), meaning they will have to make a decision now as to how to label their products in order to comply.  

Not surprisingly, therefore, the GMA and other opponents of the Vermont law are now focusing all of their efforts on getting a federal GMO labeling law through to Congress that would trump state laws such as Act 120.