When voter go to the polls today , they will be confronted with 146 referenda and enterprisingness in 41 states and the District of Columbia . Among the measures are several related to science and the environment , let in genetically alter food , hunt and disease enquiry .
The GMO labeling go-ahead on the ballots in Oregon and Colorado have received the most internal attending — and money . Both supporters and adversary of Oregon ’s Prop 92 have funneled millions into the campaign , make it one of the most expensive ballot criterion in the state ’s history . Among the largest donors against the bar are PepsiCo Inc. , Coca - Cola Co. , Kraft Foods and seed companies DuPont Co. and Monsanto Co.
The latest polls suggest that the Oregon initiative has a hazard of passing , while the Colorado one is facing likely frustration .
As the Wall Street Journalnotes , the outcomes in these country could have national repercussions :
States and metropolis have a history of blaze a trail on food policies that are eventually adopted by the federal administration . New York City , for case , necessitate Sir Ernst Boris Chain eatery to display calorie counts on menus well before Congress mandated a federal requirement in the 2010 Affordable Care Act .
New York and Massachusetts are among the big states where lawmaker have enclose bills requiring GMO labeling . Rep. Mike Pompeo ( R. , Kan. ) introduced a flier earlier this year that ostracise all commonwealth labeling requirements and reach sole authorisation over the standards to the Food and Drug Administration .
Vermont ’s labeling law goes into consequence in 2016 but the Grocery Manufacturers Association and other food group process the body politic in June to block it . They state the label forced them to communicate an judgement about product refuge with which they differ . Connecticut and Maine also have passed labeling laws but those mandates are n’t actuate unless nearby states impose like requisite .
Something else to keep an center on as this public debate stay to unfold : The Delta Farm Press isreportingthat GMO labeling go-ahead are beginning to come out in southern legislatures :
Until now , the southeastern country have generally been immune from activist endeavor to coerce state and local governments to expect such label . But Bucky Kennedy , state affairs director for the Southern Crop Production Association , say those efforts are beginning to take place in some locales .
“ We ’ve seen an growth in the GMO labeling enterprise around the southeasterly states that SCPA cover , ” said Kennedy , who was interview at the group ’s annual meeting in New Orleans . “ In the 15 state we have , eight of them had some sort of effort for mandatory labeling of GMO products this year….we have a great deal of new urban legislators who come in with information from folk who do n’t have an ag backdrop and desire to do something that ’s helpful for their side . But they also do n’t empathise the unintended consequences that this piece of legislation may have on the ag community . ”
“ Our headache is with mandatory labeling , ” he said . “ We ’re in favor of voluntary labeling or letting the market prescribe what should be listed . We ’re also stick out the Union labeling that ’s being pushed .
A federal law would be far preferable to 50 different art object of state legislation that might develop , Kennedy noted .
Meanwhile , ScienceInsiderreportsthat , in Michigan , the conflict is over wolf hunting . official move out endangered species protections for the state ’s gray savage in 2012 , prompting State Senator Tom Casperson to introduce legislating that would designate the wildcat as “ plot species . ”
Anti - hunting groups responded by collecting enough signature to gainsay Casperson ’s standard on this year ’s ballot , and many percipient portend they would deliver the goods , in part because the body politic ’s elector in 2006 reject a similar exertion to permit hunting of Columba . Pro - hunting force responded with another legislative maneuver , however , forcing their opponents to add a 2d balloting measure . But the maneuvering did n’t terminate there : Pro - hunting legislators then pursued a third legislative gambit to sidestep both ballot bar . The upshot : Even if voters approve the two antihunting measuring rod , acknowledge as Propositions 14 - 1 and 14 - 2 , the wins may not be enough to bar wolf hunt . The matter could end up in the commonwealth ’s courts .
Other skill - link initiative across the country , consort to ScienceInsider :
Alaska : Ballot quantity 4 would require legislative blessing of a controversial gold mine pop the question for the Salmon River - plentiful Bristol Bay area .
Arizona : Proposition 303 would permit terminally ill patient role and their doctors to habituate experimental treatment that have finish only preliminary phase I safety and drug tribulation . Colorado , Missouri , Louisiana , and Michigan already have similar “ right to try ” jurisprudence .
Maine : Question 2 asks voters to approve $ 8 million in bonds to aid make an animal and plant life disease and insect control research lab administered by the University of Maine ’s Cooperative Extension service .
Maine : inquiry 4 ask voters to approve $ 10 million in bonds , to be matched by $ 11 million in private stock , to work up a genomics and disease research gist at the Maine Technology Institute in Brunswick .
Maine : Question 5 take elector to O.K. $ 3 million in bond , to be matched by $ 5.7 million in private pecuniary resource , to modernize and boom a biological laboratory particularise in tissue repair and regeneration .
Rhode Island : Question 4 asks voters to approve $ 125 million in bond certificate for a College of Engineering building at the University of Rhode Island , Kingston .
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