Farmer Paul Schlagel tills acres of sugar beets in Longmont last week. Schlagel uses GMOs and is against the labeling measure. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post) With the Nov. 4 ballot measure, Colorado is at the forefront of a fierce food fight raging across the nation: whether or not to label foods made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, so consumers can easily see if the food they buy is a product of genetic engineering. Similar ballot initiatives failed in California and Washington in the past two years. This spring, Vermont became the first state to approve GMO labeling. But then a group of national organizations led by the Grocery Manufacturers Association filed a lawsuit in federal court that challenges the new law. This could be the first of many lawsuits to block mandatory GMO labeling, experts say, and now Colorado jumps into the high-stakes debate. "It will be a hot issue for quite a while in this state," said Katie Abrams, an assistant professor at Colorado State University who researches consumer understanding of food labels. "And it's going on in more places than just Colorado." GMO labeling will also be on the ballot in Oregon, and this year … Continue reading →