GMO Labeling: Colorado Voters Reject Food Measure; Maui Voters Approve

In the latest bids for states to compel companies to label foods that contain genetically modified ingredients, Colorado voters decided the issue in their state today.

Proposition 105, was defeated by a roughly 2-1 margin Tuesday.

Oregon voters also considered a measure, but it is still too close to call — the no vote leading the yes vote by two percentage points with more than 80 percent of the vote counted.

The issue has been both contentious and expensive. Last week, Oregon Live reported:

"The measure has already made history, becoming the costliest ballot measure fight in Oregon history. Opponents have raised just over $16 million — also a record for one side — and backers have raised nearly $7 million."

While more than half of U.S. states have contemplated similar GMO legislation, the only one that has come close to requiring a label is Vermont. The state's law, approved this year, still faces legal challenges, and it's not slated to take effect until 2016.

In Hawaii, Maui County voters considered an initiative that went far beyond labeling. By a slim margin, voters decided to temporarily ban genetically engineered crops.

"The county's first-ever ballot initiative targeting global agriculture companies Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences attracted nearly $8 million from opponents," Honolulu Civil Beat reports, "making it the most expensive campaign in Hawaii's history."

The site says the expense equates to "more than $75 per registered voter in Maui County, which has a population of just around 160,000."