YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) -- Supporters argued that an initiative requiring genetically engineered foods to be labeled gives Washington state consumers information they need to make informed choices at the grocery store. Opponents countered that the move is unnecessary: These foods are perfectly healthy, and if consumers don't want them, they can buy organic.

Lawmakers heard both sides of the debate Thursday in Olympia, during a public hearing for Initiative 522. The ballot measure would require food and seeds produced entirely or partly through genetic engineering and sold in Washington to be labeled as such, beginning July 1, 2015. Raw foods that are not packaged separately would have to be labeled on retail shelves.

A similar initiative failed narrowly with voters in California last year.

More than 60 countries require such foods to be labeled, but the U.S. isn't one of them. Only Alaska has enacted legislation requiring the labeling of genetically engineered fish and shellfish products.

Supporters of the Washington initiative pointed to the growing global agreement about genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms, noting that other countries have recognized concerns about new allergens and changes in nutrition levels, among other things.

Yet the U.S. government leaves it to the corporations developing the technology to determine their products' safety self-regulation that most Americans, if they understood it, would be uncomfortable with, said Ken Cook of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

"If big, corporate agribusiness were so convinced there were no health risks to GMOs, they would be more than willing to label them," said Patricia Michael, who spoke in support of the measure. "Instead, they want to hide them from us."

And for good reason, she added.

"We were told that DDT was harmless, that saccharin was harmless," she said. "We have a right to know what we're eating."

Opponents argued that the requirement is likely to raise food prices and that labeling should only be required at the federal level.

Read more here:
Both sides of GMO fight at Wash. Senate hearing

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