Health Impact News Editor Comments: The FDA was required to respond to the “Just Label It” petition within 180 days. The petition garnered a record 1 million signatures during the 180 days, the most ever for any petition presented to the FDA. So how did they respond? They basically ignored it, and said that there were only 394 signatures on the petition.
Excerpts:
Tuesday marked the deadline for the Food and Drug Administration to respond to the “Just Label It” petition, urging the agency to label genetically modified foods for American consumers. The anti-climactic response was essentially: We’ve made no decision and require more time.
Organizers say the campaign garnered more than a million supporters, far more than any other petition brought to the FDA in history. But the FDA disagrees. By its count the number is: 394. The agency says that if 35,000 people, for instance, sign their name to the same form letter it only counts as one person or “comment.” And if tens of thousands sign a petition, they are only counted as one “comment,” too.
“They sent a letter saying that they had not made a decision yet and when they did they would let us know,” said Andrew Kimbrell an attorney for the Center for Food Safety, one of the partner groups on the Just Label It campaign.
“We know that this is a complicated issue and this response is not uncommon,” he said. “But legally they are in a very difficult position in not mandating labeling because, among other things, so many of our trading partner require it.”
He was hopeful for an expeditious response but noted that JLI could also sue for unreasonably delay if it should come to that.
During a press conference for the Just Label It campaign Tuesday, organizers presented results of a Mellman Group poll showing that 91 percent of Americans polled (representing a wide geographical and political swath) favored labeling. Eighty-one percent strongly favored it.
Read the Full Story and Comment Here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-gmolabeling-campaign-claims-a-million-supporters-but-fda-doesnt-agree-20120328,0,1662591.story
