An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers' Right To Know about Genetically Engineered Food and Seed Stock
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0718
Committee Amendment CA_C_H395 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "c,,, to H.P. 490, L.D. 718, Bill, "An Act To 
Protect Maine Food Consumers' Right To Know about Genetically Engineered Food and 
Seed Stock" 
Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers' Right To Know about Genetically 
Engineered Food' 
Amend the bill in section 1 by inserting before §2591 the following: 
'§2591. Purpose 
It is the purpose of this chapter to: 
1. Public health and food safety. Promote food safety and protect public health by 
enabling consumers to avoid the potential risks associated with genetically engineered 
foods and serve as a risk management tool enabling consumers, physicians and scientists 
to identify unintended health effects resulting from the consumption of genetically 
engineered foods: 
2. 
Environmental impacts. 
Assist consumers who are concerned about the 
potential effects of genetic engineering on the environment to make informed purchasing 
decisions: 
3. Consumer confusion and inadvertent deception. Reduce and prevent consumer 
confusion and inadvertent deception and promote the disclosure of factual information on 
food labels to allow consumers to make informed decisions: 
4. Promote economic development. Create additional market opportunities for 
those producers who are not certified organic producers and whose products are not 
produced using genetic engineering and enable consumers to make informed purchasing 
decisions: and 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT" (!;'to H.P. 490, L.D. 718 
5. Protect religious and cultural practices. Ensure consumers are provided with 
data from which they may make informed decisions for personal, religious, moral, 
cultural or ethical reasons.' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in §2591 by inserting after subsection 1 the following: 
'2. DNA. "DNA" means deoxyribonucleic acid.' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in §2591 by renumbering the subsections to read 
consecutively. 
Amend the bill in section 1 by striking out all of §2592 and inserting the following: 
'§2592. Disclosure requirements for genetically engineered food 
1. Disclosure. Beginning 18 months after the effective date of this section, any food 
offered for retail sale that is genetically engineered must be accompanied by a 
conspicuous disclosure that states "Produced with Genetic Engineering." The statement 
must be located on the package for all packaged food or, in the case of unpackaged food, 
on a card or label on the store shelf or bin in which the food is displayed. 
2. Use of term "natural." A food that is subject to disclosure under subsection 1 
may not be described on the label or by similar identification as "natural. " 
3. Misbranding. Any food that is genetically engineered that does not display the 
disclosure required under subsection 1 or that is labeled or identified as natural in 
violation of subsection 2 is considered misbranded for the purposes of chapter 551, 
subchapter 1 except that: 
A. A food is not considered misbranded if the food is produced by a person who: 
(1) Grows, raises or otherwise produces that food without knowledge that the 
food was created from other seed or other food that was genetically engineered; 
and 
(2) 
Obtains a sworn statement from the person from whom the food was 
obtained that the food was not knowingly genetically engineered and was 
segregated from and not knowingly commingled with a food component that may 
have been genetically engineered; 
B. A food product derived from an animal is not considered misbranded if the animal 
was not genetically engineered but was fed genetically engineered feed. 
A food 
product derived from any highly refined ingredients where the effect of a purification 
process is to remove DNA or novel protein is not considered misbranded; and 
C. A packaged processed food is not considered misbranded if the total weight of the 
processed food that was genetically engineered is less than 0.9% of the total weight 
of the processed food. 
4. Rules. The commissioner may adopt routine technical rules under Title 5, chapter 
375, subchapter 2-A for the administration and enforcement of this chapter.' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in §2593 by striking out all of subsections 1 and 2 (page 
2, lines 9 to 16 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "0 to H.P. 490, L.D. 718 
'I. Reliance on affidavit. A distributor or retailer that sells or advertises food that is 
genetically engineered that fails to make the disclosure required under section 2593, 
subsection 1 is not subject to liability in any civil action to enforce this chapter if the 
distributor or retailer relied on the affidavit under section 2596 provided by the producer 
or grower stating that the food is not subject to the disclosure requirements under this 
chapter. 
2. Eating establishments. Eating establishments are exempt from the disclosure 
requirements ofthis chapter.' 
Amend the bill in section I in §2595 by striking out all of the indented paragraph 
(page 2, lines 27 to 31 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'The commissioner shall develop an affidavit form that may be provided by a 
producer or grower of food to distributors and retailers and that may be included in 
shipments of food within the State certifying that the food being sold or shipped is not 
subject to the disclosure requirements of this chapter.' 
Amend the bill in section 1 by renumbering the sections to read consecutively. 
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 2 and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 2. Effective date; repeal. 
1. Effective date. The Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
shall monitor legislative activities in other states and certify to the Secretary of State and 
the Revisor of Statutes when legislation substantially similar to this Act has been adopted 
by at least 5 contiguous states including Maine. The commissioner shall notify the joint 
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over agriculture, conservation 
and forestry matters when certification is made. That section of this Act that enacts the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, chapter 565 takes effect 30 days after the date of the 
commissioner's certification. 
2. Repeal. If no certification has been made by the Commissioner of Agriculture, 
Conservation and Forestry under subsection 1 before January 1,2018, this Act is repealed 
on that date.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment is one of 2 minority reports. It differs from the majority report by 
requiring substantially similar legislation to have been enacted in 5 contiguous states 
including Maine before it takes effect. The amendment adds a purpose section to the new 
chapter on genetically engineered products. It also changes the conditions governing the 
contingent effective date and the contingent repeal date of the bill. The amendment 
establishes a process for the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to 
report to the Secretary of State, the Revisor of Statutes and the joint standing committee 
of the Legislature having jurisdiction over agriculture, conservation and forestry matters 
when 5 contiguous states including Maine have adopted substantially similar legislation. 
The amendment provides that the section of the bill that enacts Title 22, chapter 565 takes 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "t, to H.P. 490, L.D. 718 
effect 30 days after the date of the commissioner's certification. The amendment also 
proposes to exempt from the labeling requirements of the bill food products derived from 
any highly refined ingredients, where the effect of the purification process is to remove 
DNA or novel protein. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: OS/27/13 
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LD718 
LR 52(03) 
An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers' Right To Know about Genetically Engineered Food and 
Seed Stock 
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Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment (~:,LH -395.) 
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Potential current biennium cost increase - General Fund 
Correctional and Judicial Impact Statements 
Potential increase in the number of civil violations; 
Potential increase in the collection of additional fines which may increase General Fund revenue by minor amounts. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This legislation requires disclosure of genetic engineering at the point of retail sale of food. The legislation is 
contingent upon enactment of substantially similar legislation in at least 5 contiguous states. If that happens, the 
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry would incur annual General Fund costs of$128,578 for one 
Consumer Protection inspector position, one Office Associate II position and related administrative costs to enforce 
the provisions of the legislation. 
The Department of the Attorney General may require additional General Fund appropriations for litigation costs. The 
amount cannot be estimated at this time. 
LR0052(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1