HB3085 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 03781 JDS 33797 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB3085

Introduced , by Rep. Deborah Mell

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods Act. Requires genetically engineered raw agricultural commodities and processed foods offered for retail sale to bear certain labels. Creates exemptions for certain classes of products. Grants the Illinois Department of Agriculture the authority to adopt rules necessary to implement the Act. Requires the Department to annually publish a list of raw agricultural commodities commonly cultivated in a genetically engineered form. Provides for enforcement of the Act by the Department and the Attorney General. Contains a severability provision. Effective January 1, 2014.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning the labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered material.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods Act.

Section 5. Legislative findings and purpose.

(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that:

(1) Consumers have the right to know whether the foods they purchase contain genetically engineered material. The genetic engineering of plants and animals often causes unintended consequences. Manipulating genes and inserting them into organisms is an imprecise process that is capable of creating unpredictable or uncontrollable results and causing adverse health or environmental consequences.

(2) Mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods provides a currently lacking method for tracking the potential health effects of consuming genetically engineered foods.

(3) Currently, there is no federal requirement that foods be labeled to disclose that they are genetically engineered.

(4) The vast majority of the public wants to know whether food has been genetically engineered.

(5) Countries around the world, including all European Union member states, Japan, and other key United States trading partners, have laws mandating disclosure of genetically engineered foods on food labels. No international agreements prohibit the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

(6) Without labeling, consumers of genetically engineered food may unknowingly violate their own dietary and religious restrictions.

(7) The cultivation of genetically engineered crops is also capable of causing serious impact on the environment. For example, most genetically engineered crops are designed to withstand weed-killing herbicides. As a result, hundreds of millions of pounds of additional herbicides have been used and continue to be used on the nation's farms. Because of the massive use of those products, herbicide-resistant weeds have flourished, which, in turn, has caused the use of increasingly toxic herbicides. These more toxic herbicides damage our agricultural areas, contaminate our drinking water, and pose health risks to consumers and farm workers. The public should have the choice to avoid purchasing foods produced in ways that are capable of leading to these harms.

(8) Organic farmers are prohibited from using genetically engineered seeds. Nonetheless, these farmers' crops are regularly threatened with accidental contamination from either contaminated seed or neighboring lands where genetically engineered crops abound. This risk of contamination may erode public confidence in organic products, significantly undermining the organic foods industry. Consumers should have the choice to avoid purchasing foods whose production could harm the State's organic farmers and its organic foods industry.

(b) The purpose of this Act is to ensure that people are fully informed about whether the foods they purchase and eat are genetically engineered and to make it possible for people to choose for themselves whether to purchase and eat those foods.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Cultivated commercially" means grown or raised in the regular course of a business or trade.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

"Enzyme" means a protein that catalyzes chemical reactions of other substances without itself being destroyed or altered upon completion of these reactions.

"Food facility" means an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption, including an operation where food is consumed on or off the premises, regardless of whether there is a charge for the food.

"Genetically engineered" means any food that contains, in whole or in part, or is produced from, an organism or organisms in which the genetic material has been changed through the (i) application of in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid techniques and the direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles. These techniques include, but are not limited to, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid or ribonucleic acid techniques that use vector systems and techniques involving the direct introduction into the organisms of hereditary material prepared outside the organisms, such as micro-injection, macro-injection, chemoporation, electroporation, micro-encapsulation, and liposome fusion or (ii) fusion of cells, including protoplast fusion, or hybridization techniques that overcome natural physiological, reproductive, or recombination barriers, where the donor cells or protoplasts do not fall within the same taxonomic family, in a way that does not occur by natural multiplication or natural recombination.

"Ingredient" means any substance that is used in the manufacture, or otherwise contained in the final form, of a processed food.

"Processed food" means any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any food produced from a raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing, including, but not limited to, canning, smoking, pressing, cooking, freezing, dehydration, fermentation, or milling.

"Processing aid" means (i) a substance that is added to a food during the processing of the food but is then removed from the food before it is packaged in its finished form; (ii) a substance that is added to a food during processing, that is converted into constituents normally present in the food, and that does not significantly increase the amount of the constituents naturally found in the food; or (iii) a substance that is added to a food for its technical or functional effects in the processing but is present in the finished good at insignificant levels and that does not have any technical or functional effect in that finished food.

Section 15. Mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

(a) Beginning January 1, 2014, for any genetically engineered raw agricultural commodity that is offered for retail sale, a clear and conspicuous statement consisting of the words "genetically engineered" must appear either (i) on the front package or label of that commodity or (ii) in the case of such a commodity that is not separately packaged or labeled, on a label appearing on the retail store shelf or bin in which that commodity is displayed for sale.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2014, any package offered for retail sale containing processed food that is made with or derived from any genetically engineered ingredient must include a clear and conspicuous statement on the front or back of the package, consisting of the words "contains genetically engineered ingredient(s)", followed by the name of the ingredient or ingredients. If an ingredients list appears on the package, then the following requirements must be met:

(1) The statement must appear underneath the ingredients list.

(2) In the case of processed food containing more than one genetically engineered ingredient, the genetically engineered ingredients listed after the statement must be listed in the same order in which they appear in the full ingredients list.

(c) In lieu of compliance with subsection (b) of this Section, any package containing processed food that is made with or is derived from any ingredient that may be genetically engineered must include a clear and conspicuous statement on the front or back of the package, consisting of the words "may contain genetically engineered ingredient(s)", followed by the name of the ingredients. If an ingredients list appears on the package, then the following requirements must be met:

(1) The statement must appear underneath the ingredients list.

(2) In the case of processed food containing more than one ingredient that may be genetically engineered, the genetically engineered ingredients listed after the statement must be listed in the same order in which they appear in the full ingredients list.

(d) The requirements of subsections (a) through (c) of this Section do not apply to any of the following:

(1) any raw agricultural commodity that, on the date it is offered for retail sale, is not listed in either subsection (a) of Section 25 of this Act or the most recent list published pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 25 of this Act;

(2) a processed food that does not contain any ingredient derived from a raw agricultural commodity that, on the date the processed food is manufactured, is listed in either subsection (a) of Section 25 of this Act or the most recent list published pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 25 of this Act;

(3) food consisting entirely of, or derived entirely from, an animal that has not itself been genetically engineered, regardless of whether the animal has been fed or injected with any genetically engineered food or any drug that has been produced through means of genetic engineering;

(4) a raw agricultural commodity or ingredient that has been grown, raised, or produced without the knowing and intentional use of genetically engineered seed or food, except that to be included within this exclusion, the person responsible for complying with this Section with respect to a raw agricultural commodity or ingredient must obtain, from whoever sold the commodity or ingredient to that person, a sworn statement that the commodity or ingredient (i) has not been knowingly or intentionally genetically engineered and (ii) has been segregated from, and has not been knowingly or intentionally commingled with, goods that may have been genetically engineered at any time; in providing a sworn statement, a person may rely on a sworn statement from his or her own supplier that contains that affirmation;

(5) any processed food that would be subject to this Section solely because it includes one or more genetically engineered processing aids or enzymes;

(6) any alcoholic beverage that is subject to regulation under the Liquor Control Act of 1934;

(7) until January 1, 2015, any processed food that would be subject to this Section solely because it includes one or more genetically engineered ingredients, provided that (i) no single ingredient accounts for more than one-half of 1% of the total weight of the processed food, and (ii) the processed food does not contain more than 10 of those ingredients;

(8) food that an independent organization has determined has not been knowingly and intentionally produced from or commingled with genetically engineered seed or genetically engineered food, provided that the determination has been made pursuant to a sampling and testing procedure approved for this purpose in rules adopted by the Department;

(9) food that has been lawfully certified to be labeled, marketed, and offered for sale as "organic" pursuant to applicable State or federal organic food production laws and regulations;

(10) food that is not packaged for retail sale and that either (i) is a processed food prepared and intended for immediate human consumption, (ii) is served, sold, or otherwise provided in any restaurant or other food facility that is primarily engaged in the sale of food prepared and intended for immediate human consumption; or

(11) medical food, as defined in 21 U.S.C. 360ee(b)(3).

Section 20. Rulemaking authority. The Department may adopt rules necessary to implement this Act, except that the Department is not authorized to create any exemptions beyond those provided in subsection (d) of Section 15 of this Act.

Rules adopted by the Department to comply with subdivision (d)(8) of Section 15 may not approve a sampling and testing procedure unless it is consistent with sampling and testing principles recommended by the American National Standards Institute, or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or other internationally recognized standards organization.

Section 25. Known genetically engineered commodities.

(a) The General Assembly finds that as of January 1, 2014, the following raw agricultural commodities are commonly cultivated commercially in genetically engineered form:

(1) alfalfa;

(2) canola;

(3) corn;

(4) cotton;

(5) papaya;

(6) soy;

(7) sugar beets; and

(8) zucchini and yellow summer squash.

(b) By January 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, the Department shall publish an updated list of additional raw agricultural commodities that are, at that time, commonly cultivated commercially in genetically engineered form. The list must be based on the most current available information.

Section 30. Enforcement.

(a) Any person who violates any provision of this Act or any rule adopted hereunder shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per day for each day during which the violation continues.

(b) The penalties provided for in this Section may be recovered in a civil action. The Attorney General may, at the request of the Department or on his or her own motion, institute a civil action for an injunction, prohibitory or mandatory, to restrain violations of this Act or any rule adopted hereunder or to require any other actions that may be necessary to address violations of this Act or any regulation adopted hereunder.

(c) The Attorney General shall bring such actions in the name of the people of the State of Illinois. Without limiting the authority which may exist for the awarding of attorney's fees and costs, the court may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees, including the reasonable costs of expert witnesses and consultants, to the Attorney General in a case where he or she has prevailed against a person who has committed a willful, knowing, or repeated violation of this Act or any rule adopted hereunder.

Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2014.