Knowing What’s in the Food We Eat

Letter from The New York Times,

March 18, 2013

The March 15 editorial “Why Label Genetically Engineered Foods?” bases its misguided opposition to labeling of genetically engineered foods on the assertion that they have not been proved to pose health risks to consumers, but that is not the standard for labeling in the United States. We don’t label dangerous foods; we take them off the market.

The government mandates food labeling not based on safety, but on whether there is a “material” change in the food that consumers should be informed about. Under this standard genetically engineered foods clearly merit labeling. Genetically engineered crops contain novel bacterial and viral genes never seen before in food. They are so novel that biotech companies have been granted dozens of patents on them.

It is past time that American consumers gain the same right to know enjoyed by the citizens in the 60-plus countries that have mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

ANDREW KIMBRELL
Executive DirectorCenter for Food Safety
Washington, March 15, 2013