As food companies are preparing to comply with the Vermont GMO labeling law, many other states are now considering their own GMO labeling laws including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Those bills largely mirror the Vermont law. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Maine passed a bill through the state’s House of Representatives that would ask voters to repeal a trigger clause in the state’s GMO labeling law, allowing the measure to go into effect. Legislators in Tennessee, Florida, Hawaii, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Oregon have also considered labeling laws this spring.

Responding to concerns by U.S. lawmakers, Syngenta says the takeover by ChemChina of Syngenta poses no food or national security issues. Syngenta made the response following the concerns in a letter by four senators requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment review the $43 billion deal’s potential impact on the U.S. food system. The senators feared that increased foreign control over important parts of US food production could create threats to domestic food security. A Syngenta spokesperson responded by saying while the company would welcome a full review, it believes the proposed takeover would not pose any security or food safety issues.

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