Topic: Why GMOs can never be safe article. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/06/genetic-modification.aspx?e_cid=20130811_SNL_MS_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ms1&utm_campaign=20130811

It appears that there is clearly enough concern for mandatory labelling if not a ban altogether on this technology. There is no long term study showing this to be safe and plenty of red flags to show a precautionary approach. With the resistance to mandatory labelling, suspicion only increases.

Are we not seeing a situation like the tobacco industry went through in terms of safety?

Expert response from Cathleen Enright

Former Executive Director of the Council for Biotechnology Information

Tuesday, 24/09/2013 13:02

Before answering your question, I think it’s important to place the reference you provided from mercola.com, an alternative medicine website business, into context. Mercola.com is owned by Joseph Mercola, who has been the subject of criticism for years by the regulatory, medical and scientific communities for making unsubstantiated claims about the ability of the products he sells to detect, prevent and treat disease. He warns parents not to vaccinate their children, advises women not to get mammograms and opposes fluoridation and of course, rallies against GMOs. On each of these issues the overwhelming preponderance of scientific evidence does not support his admonitions.

• http://www.casewatch.org/fdawarning/prod/2006/mercola2.shtml
• http://www.casewatch.org/fdawarning/prod/2005/mercola.shtml
• http://www.casewatch.org/fdawarning/prod/2011/mercola.shtml

Contrary to the information on the Mercola website, GMOs are as safe as other foods. Hundreds of independent studies including long term feeding studies, regulatory officials around the world, and renowned institutions recognize that GM technology does not present any new food safety or health risk to humans or animals. The few studies and articles that have made negative safety or health claims about GMOs have been discredited by the global scientific community. Additional information on this topic:

• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512005637.
• http://gmoanswers.com/ask/maybe-gmos-arent-problem-they-are-only-enabler-case-roundup-ready-enabling-food-be-doused-it
• http://academicsreview.org/reviewed-individuals/jeffrey-smith/

Our position on mandatory labeling is not popular with some; however, we believe that mandatory labeling would convey to US consumers that the food derived from the crops grown by the farmers who plant our seeds is somehow less safe or nutritious than food produced with organic seeds—a message that is simply untrue. Statements by the Food & Drug Administration as well as the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Scientific American explain why mandatory labeling should not be required on GM foods. These statements can be accessed through the links below:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has consistently held that:

“…there is no significant difference between foods produced using bio-engineering, as a class, and their conventional counterparts.”
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm059098.htm

The American Medical Association stated in June 2012: 

“There is no scientific justification for special labeling of bioengineered foods, as a class, and that voluntary labeling is without value unless it is accompanied by focused consumer education.”
https://ssl3.ama-assn.org/apps/ecomm/PolicyFinderForm.pl?site=www.ama-assn.org&uri=/resources/doc/PolicyFinder/policyfiles/HnE/H-480.958.HTM

The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences stated in October 2012:

“The FDA does not require labeling of a food based on the specific genetic modification procedure used in the development of its input crops. Legally mandating such a label can only serve to mislead and falsely alarm consumers.”
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/media/AAAS_GM_statement.pdf

The Scientific American stated in September 2013:

“Instead of providing people with useful information, mandatory GMO labels would only intensify the misconception that so-called Frankenfoods endanger people's health.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=labels-for-gmo-foods