Labelling of GMFS (Essay Sample)

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Should GE Foods Be Labeled?
Introduction
In the United States, one would easily know if the food they are consuming is irradiated or contain high fructose simply by reading the labels marked on them. It has then been a problem knowing whether the food one is consuming is genetically engineered as there is no information indicating any message on that. The reason is that despite many countries around the world is granting their citizens the right to know what is in the food they consume, the united states has ignored the consumer demands to label the GE foods. According to some survey conducted in the US, many people believe that the genetically engineered foods should be labeled while the government of the United States has refused to grant its citizens the fundamental right.
GE Foods
The center for food safety has come out notifying the public that the consumers around the country are purchasing and consuming unlabeled foods without their knowledge and consent. The center also claims that the technology involved has invaded their kitchens by altering some of the most important staple food crops. The United Nations in collaboration with the world health organization and the American medical association has called for the mandatory testing of the genetically engineered foods. There have been documents uncovered by in the CFS indicating that the food could pose some risk to the consumer though the FDA do not independently do testing of their safety. The FDA makes no determination of safety but rather holds a confidential meeting with the industry before selling of these foods. The agency is said to rely more on the conclusion of the industry and takes in the data they are provided with by the industry. The limited data that the agency is given is said to have a lot more concern. According to some studies, the GE foods have some risk to humans, domesticated animals, and the environment. Among the human health effects include high risks of toxicity, allergenicity, antibiotic resistance and immune-suppression. From some research studies, the use of genetically engineered agriculture has led to the excessive use of the herbicides and the insecticides that causes some increased harm to the environment. The report is found to be contrary to the industries false report that the technology would reduce the need for using pesticides. Ever since the utilization of the technology begun in the United States, there has been an increase in the utilization of the herbicides on the crops.
GE Food Labeling
In close to ten years back, the FDA had announced that the labeling of the foods would remain voluntary. There was no sign whatsoever that the company would volunteer to label the foods and until today, no company has ever volunteered to label these foods. Despite the long-term exposure to the risks, there is no congress passed or any law implemented by the FDA to manage the GE foods responsibly. Sometime after, the FDA came to a decision that there was no need to label the genetically engineered foods claiming that they were not materially different from other foods. There then came the federal food drugs and cosmetic acts that required the FDA to prevent the deception of the consumer by clarifying that a food label is false and misleading if it omits some significant material information. About all the facts presented, the FDA has been seen to limit itself to what it sees to be the changes in food that can be noted by its smell or by other senses. The agency was then seen to apply the nineteenth century policy to the twenty-first-century technology and declared that the GE foods are substantially equal to the conventionally produced foods as they cannot be sensed using the senses. Following this theory, the agency saw no need to label the genetically engineered foods (Weirich, Paul 2007 63).
There is also the biotech industry that was seen to oppose strongly the GE labeling. The industry convinced many in Congress and the FDA that such a label would mislead the consumers into thinking that the food is dangerous (Elderidge, Sarah 2003 116). The industry was seen to support its claims by suggesting that dangerous food not be labeled rather; it is withdrawn from the market. The government is mandated to label the food not on the safety basis but on the material changes that the consumers should be informed about. In the long run, the decision not to require labeling of the genetically engineered food was and will remain a political decision but not a scientific one. It is a high time that the FDA should move into the new century and gives the consumers all the information that they firmly believe to be important. The information should be paid to the host of health, environmental, ethical, and religious reasons.
The CFS Legal Petitions to Labeling GE Foods.
In the run to addressing the outdated policy, the center for foods safety filed a petition to the FDA demanding that the genetically engineered food be labeled. The petition was seen to require that the agency issue new regulations that were to see the labeling of the GE foods was successful. It was also to modernize the agency’s decades-old definition of what it constitutes a material change. According to some scientists, the GE food is found to contain some novel bacteria that have never been seen in before in foods. According them, the patentability of the genetically engineered food demonstrates that they are materially different. It is, therefore, another reason that will see that the foods require labeling. Recently, there has been an increase I the number of Americans that support the issue of labeling by filling comments to the agency (Rector-Page & Linda, 2006 84).
State and federal labeling initiatives.
It has been so unfortunate that the concerned citizens across the country are fed up waiting for the federal government act. They are now seen turning to the state and local governments giving out their plea for the labeling of the genetically engineered foods. In the recent past, many states have been seen introducing bills that would require labeling for GE foods. Most of the bills introduced are said to be using the language that the CFS crafted or rather based on the CFS model genetically engineered food labeling bill. The center for foods has been seen working with grassroots movements in individual states to improve the oversight of genetically engineered crops. It was with an aim of introducing labeling legislation and ballot initiatives available. The interested parties that were seen to seek counseli...