How the Government Got in Your Backyard by Jeff Gillman

Author:Jeff Gillman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 2011-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

Policy Option Three: Label Every Food That Includes Genetically Engineered Material

Biotechnology is being inflicted upon us without our approval. This is not okay. True, there’s no definitive proof that transgenic organisms have caused problems for human health, but some studies do point to potential problems. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, transgenics have a proven potential to affect our environment. Historically, one of the ways that we have protested a business’s perceived bad practices is to boycott their products. By not providing information on which products include transgenic ingredients, businesses have stripped us of this form of protest. We can buy organic foods that we know have been produced without transgenic materials—because GE products cannot be sold as organics—but these foods are significantly more expensive. Transgenic foods should be an option we can knowingly choose or avoid. If anyone were arguing that we need transgenic crops to feed our nation this lack of an informed choice might be more understandable, but no one, not even the biotech companies, is making that argument (though they do argue that we can produce more with GMOs, that GMOs can reduce food prices, and that GMOs reduce the use of pesticides). Why not label foods with GE ingredients?

Groups opposed to requiring labeling—most large-scale farmers and biotech companies—complain that this labeling would mean they would need to process these foods separately from foods produced without modification, which would raise costs for food production. They also claim that the addition of a new gene from another organism is no different from adding a new gene through a more conventional breeding process, and there is some truth to that.

An alternative system would be for the government to standardize the use of labeling for foods that don’t have any genetically modified material in them, similar to what is happening with organics right now. Designate what’s not there rather than what is. The private sector is beginning to do this already. In 2009, the organic and natural foods chain Whole Foods announced that it would be partnering with the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group opposed to genetically modified foods, to use their Product Verification Program (PVP) to label foods that don’t include GMOs. This label will give consumers the freedom to choose foods that aren’t made with genetically modified organisms but may still be cheaper than organically produced food. If there is a demand for these nonmodified foods over a period of a decade or so, the government may step in. That is, after all, how the government originally got involved in labeling organic foods.

Right-Wing Rating While there’s nothing wrong with letting the market decide which products succeed, there could be a lot of unjustified damage if the public reacts in ignorance and fear to foods labeled as genetically engineered. This unintended consequence would badly affect farmers who are using this technology to keep their crops going and avoid the use of expensive pesticides. If certification and labeling are warranted, let private industry set the standards; they’re the experts and won’t impose unnecessary and cumbersome rules.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.