On Capitol Hill this week, the Senate Agriculture Committee addressed a red-hot issue: Should individual states develop their own labeling standards for food products and, specifically, for food containing ingredients derived from agricultural biotechnology , or should there be a national standard? If Congress doesn't act soon on a proposed national standard for food labeling, a Vermont law will go into effect on July 1, setting off a patchwork of labeling standards across the United States that will confuse rather than effectively inform consumers about the ingredients and nutritive value of their food.