Dive Brief:
- Supporters of a Washington State initiative to require warning labels on GMO foods have conceded defeat. As vote counting continued into late last week, the "No" campaign held to its 51.4 percent lead. The "yes" campaign says it will return to the ballot in 2016.
- I-522 backers such as the Center for Food Safety blamed the defeat on a heavily funded opposition campaign. Food companies had spent millions on ads and wound up generating legal actions by the state's Attorney General, who alleged the "No" campaign violated state law.
- Some food activists cited a low turnout among younger, progressive voters as the reason for the loss.
Dive Insight:
Surely some of the wind has gone out of the sails of the anti-GMO crowd. But it seems unlikely the loss in Washington marks some sort of turning point. In our mind the single most interesting development in the campaign was that some of the giants of the food manufacturing industry had apparently lost their stomach for the fight.
Oregon, Connecticut and New York are all considering GMO label laws of their own. Victories by the pro-label groups are possible, but not certain. Our sense is that GMO labels are inevitable.
