FDA Should Label GE Foods

NOTE: This is a guest post from Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director at the Center for Food Safety.

If you’re an American and you want to know if your food contains aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, trans-fats or MSG, you simply read the ingredients label. But if you want to know if it contains genetically engineered (GE) ingredients, you’re not going to find any information on the package.

Why?

Because unlike most other developed countries–such as the 15 nations in the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia and China–the U.S. has no laws requiring labeling of GE foods. Yet polls have repeatedly shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans–over 90% in most polls–believe GE foods should be labeled.

Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are being allowed to purchase and eat unlabeled genetically engineered foods, despite the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does no independent testing of their safety. In fact, documents uncovered in prior litigation show that scientists within FDA indicated that the foods could pose serious risks.

So why has the FDA not acted to require labeling?

In 1992, the FDA issued a policy statement that GE foods need not be labeled because they were not “materially” different from other foods. The agency severely limited what it considered “material” to only changes in food that could be noted by taste, smell, or other senses. Since GE foods can’t be “sensed” in this way, FDA declared them to be “substantially equivalent” to conventionally produced foods, and no labeling was required. It was, and remains, a political decision, not a scientific one.

After almost 20 years, this outdated 19^thcentury policy is unfortunately still in effect today. Yet the 21^st century has brought fundamental changes to food that cannot be seen, first through genetic engineering and soon through nanotechnology and synthetic biology. FDA must move into the new century and give consumers the information they overwhelmingly believe to be important, for a host of health, environmental, ethical and religious reasons.

Last week, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a formal legal petition with FDA to require labeling of GE foods. CFS prepared the legal action in coalition with the Just Label It! campaign; a coalition of over 350 health, consumer, environmental, farming organizations, and food companies. FDA has opened a public comment docket for the Petition where consumers can let them know that they want GE foods labeled. The Center for Food Safety has set up an easy way to send your comments through their labeling campaign website at www.gefoodlabels.org.

In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. FDA should not allow hiding your ingredients to be a business plan. Under current FDA regulations we don’t have that choice when it comes to GE ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families. It’s time FDA rewrite its outdated policy.

–

Andrew Kimbrell is an attorney and the Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety, a national, non-profit membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS currently represents nearly 200,000 members across the nation. On the web at: www.centerforfoodsafety.org and www.truefoodnow.org.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Carole R.

8:29PM PST on Dec 10, 2011

I think, unless you grow all your own food, very few of us know what is really in our food. Even if you do grow your own, who knows what blows in on those soft breezes. It is scary. Who protects us these days?

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Deborah D.

4:58PM PST on Nov 9, 2011

I'd like to know which politicians Monsanto paid off in order to get the laws leaning in their favor.

4:55PM PST on Nov 9, 2011

I think it's funny that Monsanto is hitting the european countries and they are all telling them to "get lost". These people terrorize the small farmer and I think it's disgusting and they should be prosecuted for what they are doing. Now their hitting on South America and fooling a lot of people into thinking they are for the environment. DON"T BELIEVE IT!

Bill K.

10:59AM PST on Nov 8, 2011

i once went through the grocery with a list of products containing GE ingredients. except for the produce and organic foods sections it was nearly impossible to find any that were GE free, and of course none were labeled.

Olivia S.

2:25PM PST on Nov 6, 2011

If you don't restrict your food shopping in grocery stores to the perimeter, you are probably getting a lot of GMO/GE frankencrap...and maybe even some on the perimeter. Thanks

Reggie C.

11:39AM PDT on Nov 2, 2011

Here are the current U.S. FDA Food, Beverage, and Dietary Supplement Regulations http://www.registrarcorp.com/fda-food/index.jsp?lang=en

Cheryl B.

6:03PM PDT on Oct 27, 2011

We have the right to know what we're eating

10:07AM PDT on Oct 26, 2011

You should know what you are eating. Labeling mistakes result in more than 22% of all detentions in the United States. Registrar Corp helps companies modify their food, beverage, or dietary supplement labeling to comply with U.S. FDA regulations.

Cindy N.

9:41PM PDT on Oct 25, 2011

I want to know! I am trying to eat as much organic as I can so I get less chemicals, and I'm staying away from anything processed to avoid all the crap. :(

Chris J.

6:00AM PDT on Oct 25, 2011

Monsanto has moved in to the organic foods industry to make things more complicated. I just read a blog : A Month Without Monsanto by a journalist who tackled the food industry and wrote about her experiences here: http://web.me.com/aprildavila/MWM/Blog/Blog.html (or just google a month without monsanto)
I'm trying hard to get away from this demon myself. We have Off the Vine in NW Florida which is amazing (30 lbs of organic produce for about $50 a week). It's going to be difficult for each of us to dig in and start personally demanding change by research and then, buying differently (and growing food at home) but it feels good staying away from Monsanto as much as one can... that's for sure.