By nearly ten points, voters in Washington State rejected a ballot initiative that would have required labels on foods containing genetically-engineered ingredients.
Initiative 522 failed at the polls on Tuesday, with 54.8 percent of voters in the Evergreen State voting no and 45.2 percent in favor, according to a tally by USA Today. Had it passed, Washington would have been the first state in the nation to require labeling of genetically-modified foods.
The campaign against the initiative drew $22 million in fundraising — mostly from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and agricultural sciences companies such as Dow AgroSciences and Bayer CropScience, who outspent supporters 3 to 1, according to the Associated Press. Ads from food industry groups said that the initiative would have raised food prices.
A similar initiative failed in California last year.