Marketing, safety and labelling of transgenic or GM (genetically-modified) food

One great advantage of a free press is that good material can emerge in obscure places.

For example, here are a couple of quotes from an article published a few weeks ago in the Grand Forks Herald (yes, I too had to look it up: Grand Forks is in North Dakota - an unlikely source for the following statements on genetically-modified food, don't you think?):

"In America, no comprehensive, systematic approach for determining the safety of transgenic foods (exists). Instead, American consumers are being “assured” by so-called experts that no widespread health problems have resulted from the transgenic foods now available. This evidence, by anecdote, is supposed to imply safety, and yet, our lessons involving tobacco and DDT, to cite only a few examples, demonstrate that what we don't know indeed can harm us.

"If you're so convinced of the safety and benefits of transgenic foods, then why not push for these foods to be labeled as such? Certainly, the confidence you've expressed in “the market” will prove you right. Or, could it be that consumer ignorance, or apathy, is what you're betting on to save biotech wheat?".

The full article is at: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/agweek/news/opinion/14413992.htm


government, safety, Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota, America, transgenic food, tobacco, DDT, market, harm, confidence, label, expert, consumer, ignorance, apathy, GM food, genetically-modified food, Guptara, Sphere: Related Content