The Dangers of Genetically Engineered Food

Brian Hutchison

November 7, 2015

Tutorial Final Draft

Bringing Emotions to a Science-Fight

Genetically engineered (GE) foods have been controversial since they were first developed in the 1990s. Critics say that GE food hasn’t been around long enough to adequately study. Despite numerous studies and mountains of evidence supporting their safety, only 35% of people say that GE food is safe to eat (Langer.) The fact of the matter is that most of the population is scientifically illiterate, and is swayed by emotions and advertising, and will happily ignore evidence that doesn’t support their point of view. There is no scientific basis for labeling GE foods, and mandatory labeling laws will hurt a growing industry.

Genetic engineering of food was first done to create more nutritious and hardy crops. The method that is most commonly used to genetically engineer crops is called gene splicing. This technique was developed in the early 1970s, and has been used on a large scale since the early 1990s. It is done by inserting the desired gene on to a recipient strain. It is much more precise than traditional breeding, which has been used for thousands of years, which only has a 50% chance of adding the desired gene to the recipient strain, and which will add a bunch of other genes along with it. Gene splicing, on the other hand, adds only the desired gene to the recipient strain (FDA). Almost all studies, whether they were funded by the government, by corporations, or by independent groups, have shown that there aren’t any ill effects on health (Nicolia, A. et al.)

Since 1993, the FDA has held the position that genetically modified foods aren’t inherently dangerous, and that they don’t require any special labeling because they aren’t materially different from non-genetically modified foods (Parti, Tarini). The FDA only labels things when the information in question poses a significant environmental or health risk, and the FDA has stated that GE foods don’t pose a health risk. The FDA’s ruling is very unpopular in the US, though. Three states have passed mandatory labeling legislation, and over 70 bills have been introduced to require GE labeling, and over 90% of the US population supports mandatory GE food labeling (Center for Food Safety). The USA is one of the few western countries in the world that doesn’t require mandatory labels for GE foods. 64 countries, including all of the EU, China, Russia, and Japan, require mandatory labeling for GE foods (Center for Food Safety).

The EU’s current regulations came into effect on April 18, 2004. They require that food products that directly use genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at any point must be labeled, even if no GMOs can