A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by consumer and environmental organizations and a group of scientists that want the U.S. government to require labels on genetically modified (GM) foods. The suit challenged an eight-year-old policy of the Food and Drug Administration that considers gene-altering techniques to be essentially the same as conventional plant-breeding methods and therefore not subject to special regulatory controls. The judge ruled that the biotechnology critics failed to prove that the FDA violated any rules or laws or that the agency should require labeling. For its part, Greenpeace isn’t waiting around for the government to get its act together. The group has launched a website with a list of foods that it believes contain GM ingredients, everything from frozen dinners to baby formula. It has also drawn up lists of brands that are GM-free and those that are working toward eliminating GM ingredients.
