Farm leaders and food groups cheered the Senate Agriculture Committee’s passage of a bill last week that is designed to block mandatory labeling of foods made with ingredients from biotech crops, stop state-by-state labeling measures, create a nationwide voluntary labeling standard and save consumers money.

The measure, championed by committee chair Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, "is a reaffirmation of common sense and fair play in the marketplace," said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

Separately, a Purdue University study showed that eliminating biotech crops, often called genetically modified organisms or GMOs, would mean the loss of forests and range lands, increase greenhouse gas emissions and raise food prices for consumers around the world.

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