Abstract
What I want to talk about are some legal issues relating to labeling and, in particular, constitutional issues relating to mandatory labeling for genetically modified foods or food products that may contain genetically modified components. This is a separate issue from whether or not the FDA, or some other agency, has sufficient statutory authority at present to mandate labeling, and that is something worth discussing. Even if they do have such authority, or even if Congress tomorrow were to give the FDA such authority or were to require the FDA to impose labels on genetically modified foods, or if a state sought to impose mandatory labeling requirements on genetically modified foods as was proposed in Oregon, there are many reasons to wonder whether such requirements would be held constitutional under the Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence with regard to commercial speech.
This article reproduces remarks given at the symposium Food Biotechnology: A Legal Perspective at the University of Richmond in 2003. This abstract has been adapted from the opening of those remarks.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2004
Publication Information
10 Richmond Journal of Law & Technology 41-45 (2004)
Repository Citation
Adler, Jonathan H., "Regulating Genetically Modified Foods: Is Mandatory Labeling the Right Answer?" (2004). Faculty Publications. 2341.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/2341
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, Science and Technology Law Commons
Comments
Written for the symposium Food Biotechnology: A Legal Perspective (2003) at University of Richmond School of Law.