The American Soybean Association (ASA) has filed their comments with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
regarding its proposed rule to implement the National Bioengineered Food
Disclosure Standard (NBFDS).

The letter accompanying their comments state "As farmers, we understand and
support the consumer's desire to know what is in their food. We are proud of
the methods and technology we use to deliver a safe and affordable product
to the consumer while developing ways to reduce impacts on the environment."
The letter went on to say that biotechnology allows farmers to reduce inputs
like water, fertilizer, and pesticides.

The NBFDS went through a chaotic situation of having conflicting
bioengineered (BE) labeling requirements on grocery products at the state
level that would have been confusing to consumers and cumbersome and costly
for processors and food companies. While ASA commends AMS, they urge the
USDA to adhere to the statutory definition of bioengineering, which requires
mandatory labeling of foods that, "contain genetic material modified through
transgenic biotechnology and exempts products that could be developed
through conventional breeding techniques or found in nature." ASA further
argues that USDA should adopt five percent as the threshold for the presence
of bioengineered content required to trigger mandatory disclosure.

[soygrowers.com]
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