Genetically Modified Foods Need to be Labeled

There is a battle raging across the United States between consumers who purchase genetically modified foods and the companies that processes these foods through genetic modification. Consumers are demanding that all genetically modified foods are labeled so that they will have information about what ingredients are in these foods. The companies who sell genetically modified foods do not want to label them and are making claims that labeling these foods would raise food prices, hurt farmers, and cause genetically modified foods to gain the reputation of being harmful to humans. Consumers should ignore the claims by companies responsible for producing genetically modified foods and be unrelenting in their insistence that all genetically modified foods are labeled. They should further demand that genetically modified foods have labels that are not written in biotech language, but in terms simple enough that an elementary school age child could read and understand.
Genetically modified foods are foods produced after the DNA or natural growth processes of plants or animals have been altered by adding DNA from totally different organisms, bacteria or viruses into the plants or animals. In an article by Brittany Cordeiro, “Do GMOs Cause Cancer,” she defined genetically modified organisms as “Plants or animals created by inserting genes from one species into another. This process is known as gene splicing or genetic engineering. It is a type of biotechnology often done in a laboratory. The explanation given by biotech companies and large corporations concerning why they genetically modify food is that genetic modification makes the foods resistance to plant diseases, pest, viral resistance, herbicides, and that it improves ...

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... consumers to continue demanding that these foods are labeled until labeling becomes law. Washington had a “Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food Measure, Initiative 522 (2013) on the ballot in 2013, but it was defeated on November 6, 2013, after the final votes were counted. The fundraising was said to be the most expensive bringing in 22 million dollars; most of the money came from Grocery Manufacturers Association, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Dow AgroSciences and Bayer CropScience. Washington would have been the first state to pass initiatives to demand labeling of genetically engineered foods. There are twenty-five other states with initiatives on the ballot (Elizabeth Weise, “Washington State Voters reject labeling of GMO Foods.”). The fight will continue as consumers not only insist, but demand the labeling of all genetically modified foods.