Dive Brief:
- Hawaii County, HI, has enlisted counsel from national advocacy groups Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety to build up its pool of attorneys dedicated to its recent GMO ban lawsuit.
- The lawsuit is in regards to a U.S. magistrate judge overruling the county's partial GMO ban. The judge said that state law pre-empted county law, thereby negating the county's ban.
- One council member who voted against the move cited the unlikelihood that this counsel could uncover any more issues than have already been posited by the county.
Dive Insight:
While Hawaii County appears to be moving forward to support its GMO ban, Maui County recently decided to take "no position" on its own GMO ban lawsuit, demonstrating a clear debate that occurs even between counties in the same state regarding this hot-button issue.
Many states have moved forward with proposing or passing their GMO labeling legislation, which go both ways. Most recently, a Massachusetts state senator announced support for a GMO labeling bill. On the opposite end of the GMO debate, Idaho sugar beet farmers requested an anti-GMO labeling ban, but any official support is unlikely in this case.