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Answers

Question

If GMO's are "safe" or "GRAS" then why have a website to handle the confusion? Why would it be confusing? Can they simply put a label on the food just as you would "artificial" or "sugar" or "high fructose corn syrup" or "interestified fat." Why can't the label read "GMO inside"? Since the ingredients are very safe I would think it could help with your sales. I am confused as to why we don't need to know that you're producing GMO's, we can't be told about it, and the organic farmers are responsible for proving their product is organic.

Submitted by: April Russell


Answer

Expert response from Community Manager

Moderator for GMOAnswers.com

Thursday, 26/09/2013 18:18

From the About section:

 

GMO Answers is an acknowledgment that we need to change. The site was created to do a better job answering your questions—no matter what they are—about GMOs. The biotech industry stands 100 percent behind the health and safety of the GM crops on the market today, but we acknowledge that we haven't done the best job communicating about them—what they are, how they are made, what the safety data says.

 

This website is the beginning of a new conversation among everyone who cares about how our food is grown.

 

With regard to labeling, please review the following responses which address this topic:

 

Regardless as to whether or not you believe GMOs are good or bad-- what is the harm in labeling them so that consumers can make their own decisions? It is the number one thing you mention on the first welcome page of your website..that you "respect people around the world and their right to choose"

 

One passage addressing your question states:

 

"As believers in GM technology, and having seen the benefits nurture farmers and society alike (check out "GMOs and the Future of Agriculture"), we believe the harm comes from a label that conveys to consumers that food made from farmers' crops grown with our seeds is somehow less safe or nutritious than or somehow different from conventional or organic food. This is simply not the case. We believe a government requirement to label a food "GM" would do just this, and a 2013 study conducted by an MIT professor supports this view [see "Policy and Inference: The Case of Product Labeling"]."

 

If you feel that your question has not been answered in these responses, or if you have additional questions, please ask.