Food labels should be reserved for "critically important food safety and nutritional information," said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which opposes the California initiative. His group donated $375,000 to fight the ballot proposal, matching the amount provided by the Council for Biotechnology Information, according to public disclosures.

Should it be approved, the measure would require labels of foods made with biotech ingredients to state that they were "produced with genetic engineering." Labels would be phased in over 18 months. Exemptions include restaurant food, alcohol and meat from animals fed with modified grains.

The label "would be the equivalent of a skull and crossbones" that would drive away customers and force food producers to stop using engineered ingredients, Joseph Mercola, the inititive's leading funder with $800,000 in donations, said in an April 1 Web posting. Mercola is an osteopath who promotes natural remedies at his clinic in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Chris Shaw, a New York-based analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt & Co. who recommends selling Monsanto shares, said labels identifying genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, won't change most consumers' buying decisions.

"People who are buying Oreos aren't going to care if there is GMO soybean oil in there," Shaw said. "It's going to be a marginal group of people that will care."

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