Democratic US Senator Barbara Boxer has introduced a GMO labeling bill in Congress. A competing Republican bill would prohibit state legislatures from passing GMO labeling laws.
Democratic State Senator Noreen Evans says her bill is about informing consumers.
“This is not an anti-GMO bill,” says Evans. “It does not ban or restrict the use of GMOs in any way. All it does is allow people to be informed consumers.”
A 2012 California food labeling ballot initiative failed. But Rebecca Spector with the Center for Food Safety says, unlike the ballot initiative, the Evans bill makes clear that small farmers would not be affected.
“It really puts the onus on the manufacturer of a processed food if it’s not labeled properly,” says Evans.
The food industry has endorsed a voluntary nationwide labeling program. GMO labeling advocates say states should be free to pass mandatory labeling laws.
![Courtesy of Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control Distrct](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=186,height=140,fit=crop/media/12077309/0723sm_westnilespraypic2.jpg)
July 23, 2018Two nights of aerial spraying to reduce the number of mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus are scheduled to begin Monday in parts of Elk Grove, the Pocket Neighborhood and neighborhoods south of Fruitridge Road.
![Tahoe Environmental Research Center boat captain Brant Allen lowers a Secchi disk from the research vessel into Lake Tahoe. The disk has been used for more than 50 years to measure water clarity at the lake. UC Davis / Courtesy](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=186,height=140,fit=crop/media/11866370/061318SecchiDiskLakeTahoe(P).jpg)
June 13, 2018If you spent time on the water at Lake Tahoe last year and thought it looked a lot cloudier, you're right. UC Davis researchers say extreme weather — drought followed by heavy rains — caused clarity in 2017 to drop to its lowest recorded level.
![A million fall run Chinook salmon smolts, who were raised at the Feather River Hatchery, are released from large tanks down a long pipe on a dock and out into the Sacramento River. Bob Moffitt / Capital Public Radio](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=186,height=140,fit=crop/media/10377594/050218FishCanon(P).jpg)
May 3, 2018The fish took a ride in a large truck on Wednesday morning and are now headed down the river on a journey to the ocean.
![NASA's Aerial Snow Observatory outfits a plane with equipment to examine and measure the snowpack using lasers. Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=186,height=140,fit=crop/media/8480637/030617NasaSnow.jpg)
March 8, 2018Using this new approach to calculate the snow’s water content also means improved forecasts for farms and cities, and even positive benefits for renewable-energy production. The program soon could go statewide — if it gets funded.
![The snow survey being taken in 2018. CA Department of Water Resources / Twitter](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=186,height=140,fit=crop/media/10159352/030518SnowSurvey-p.jpg)
March 5, 2018(AP) — Monday's snow survey found a "much rosier" picture than before last week's heavy winter storm, but still less than half the usual snow for this point in the season.
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