GM Foods: A Right to Know

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that, although science has not established that genetically modified foods are dangerous and carry a health risk, they should be labeled because they may contain ingredients that cause allergies. It explains that consumer laws state that people have a right to information regarding the products they purchase; not informing consumers deprives them of their right to free choice.

From the Paper:

"People are worried about the food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe. They have a right to be as in recent years, it seems to observers, that the rates of diseases such as cancer have increased tremendously and that new diseases, previously unheard of, such as Mad Cow and Sars, are threatening lives and health. It may be that people are healthier now than they ever previously were but, many do not think so and are very anxious about the spread of these deadly diseases. More importantly, many assume that these diseases are spread through the food that we eat. Needless to say, this has created greater consumer interest in the types of food purchased and consumed. Much of this interest is focused on genetically modified foods. Genetic modification according to Mark Tester, a professor of plant sciences at Cambridge University, is the heritable alteration of genes. The definition provided offers a very good clue why people fear GM foods and believe that they have harmful effects on the health. Quite simply stated, they are not natural foods but foods that have been created through human sciences that changed the biological make up of these foods. Some, including scientists, insist that these foods are safe. Dan Ferber, a science writer, insists on the safety of GM foods, further arguing that the current genetically modified foods are nothing more than an advance on techniques of improving crops and crop types that have existed and been practices over the centuries (1663-1664)."

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