The fight for GMO labeling gained some star power on Wednesday as actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, actress Blythe Danner, held a press conference alongside other advocates on Capitol Hill.
The event was to oppose the "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015," which opponents have dubbed the “Deny Americans the Right to Know,” or "DARK, Act." If passed, the bill would override state laws requiring foods containing GMO ingredients to be labeled.
“I’m here as an American mother who wants the right to know what I feed my family," Paltrow said. "I’m not an intensely political person.”
The actress conceded that the science of whether GMOs are harmful is "inconclusive" but asserted, "I believe we all have the right as Americans to know what's in our food."
The only state to enact such a regulation is Vermont. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a GMO labeling bill into law in May 2014, but it does not take effect until July 1, 2016. Grocery manufacturers and other industry groups have been fighting to block the law since then.
California voters narrowly rejected a GMO labeling law in a 2012 ballot initiative.
