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Why and how should we label gmo products hoang t nguyen position
- 1. WHY AND HOW GMO PRODUCTS SHOULD BE LABELED Hoang Tho Nguyen Food Position
- 2. Controversial issues Assumptions around GMOs -Health risks - Not natural - Harmful to environment
- 3. Controversial issues Support for GMOs AAAS, WHO, USDA: “GMOs are safe"
- 4. Should GMOs be labeled? Consumer’s perception about product’s transparency “If GE food is safe, why don’t you let us know which products contain GMOs?”
- 5. My position (1) Consumers have the right to know what is in their food. (2)Label should be written in the way that is easily understand and recognized.
- 6. Consumers’ right to know Oppose to GMOs labeling: - Costly, unnecessary - “Warning” signal GMOs label’s advantages - Give consumer sense of control - Improve trust - Lower perceived trust of GE
- 7. Advantages of labeling GMOs Vermont The 1st state to mandate GMOs labeling positive outcomes
- 8. Advantages of labeling GMOs Campbell Soup Company Morrison-Campbell CEO: “We have always believed consumers have a right to know what’s in their food” “We know that 92% of Americans support GMO labeling, and transparency is a critical part of our purpose"
- 9. Federal regulation of labeling USDA’s final GMO disclosure: Definition of “bioengineering”: Containing detectable genetic material that has been modified through lab techniques and may not created through conventional breeding of found in nature. Disclosure options: “Regulated entities may use text, a symbol, an electronic or digital link or a text message to disclose bioengineering; a phone number and web address are available for small food manufacturers or for small packages”
- 10. Debates continued Many GMOs may go unlabeled under current definitions and thresholds (refined food…) Wide ranges of disclosure options confused, misinformed, not accessible, not nation wide support
- 11. Conclusion
- 12. Work cited AAAS Board of Director Statement on Labeling of Genetically Modified Food https://www.aaas.org/news/statement-aaas-board-directors-labeling-genetically-modified-foods Campell News “Why We Support Mandatory National Gmo Labeling”. Retrieved from https://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/newsroom/news/2016/01/07/labeling/ Charles, Dan, “Congress jusst passed a GMO labeling bill. Nobody’s super happy about it“, NPR, 07.14.2016. Retrieved fromhttps://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/14/486060866/congress-just- passed-a-gmo-labeling-bill-nobodys-super-happy-about-it Food Business News. USDA announces GMO labeling standard. Retrieved fromhttps://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/13064-usda-announces-gmo-labeling-standard Gordon, Bridger, “Food fight the debate over GMOs and food labeling”, Havard Political reviews. Retrieved from https://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/food-fight-the-debate-over-gmos-and-food- labeling/ Kolodinsky, Jane; Lusk, Jayson et.al; “Mandatory labels can improve attitudes toward genetically engineered”, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Vol.4, no.6 (26 Jun 2018)https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/6/eaaq1413
- 13. Work cited MacDonald, Ruth, “Safety of Genetically Modified Food and Food Ingredients”, Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, USDA. Retrieved from https://www.aphis.usda.gov/stakeholders/downloads/2015/coexistence/Ruth- MacDonald.pdf Mark Lynas, Why we need to label GMOs, Speech to Center for Food Intergrity Summit, Chicago, 15 Oct 2013, https://youtu.be/gz1zobl4Gi0 Stephanie Strom, Campbell labels will disclose GMO ingredients, The New York Times, 01/2016. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/business/campbell-labels-will-disclose-gmo-ingredients.html US National Academy of Sciences, “Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops at the Farm Level”. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/read/12804/chapter/4#111 USDA, National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, 21.12.2018. Retrieved from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/12/21/2018-27283/national-bioengineered-food-disclosure-standard WHO: Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en/ Zilberman, David, et al., Agricultural GMOs—What We Know and Where Scientists Disagree, Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1514, MDPI. Zhen, Willa, “Food Studies: A Hands-On Guide”, Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.
Editor's Notes
- Hello everyone, for the food position assignment, I would like to discuss with you all about the regulations about GMOs as well as GMOs labeling, which has been an ongoing topic since it was first brought into the market.
- GMOs is defined as plant or animal whose genes have been modified in laboratory by introducing new DNA from other organisms or editing their own genes to obtain desirable characteristics: ill-resistant, pest-resistant, drought tolerant… Critics of GMOs argue that genetically modified products can influence human’s normal condition and cause many diseases like obesity, allergy, autisms. They also argue that GM crops is harmful to the natural environments.
- Nevertheless, arguments for GMOs have it that biotechnology is a vital tool to feed the world sustainably in modern food system and in the future in which population exploding is a huge issue. We need crops that are resistant to new diseases, coping with climate change, while minimizing environment impact of agriculture. Instead of spraying the crop with chemical multiples times, the plants fight the bug themselves. Many prestige organizations such as American Association for the Advancement of Science, USDA and the US National Academy of Sciences have concluded that GMOs are safe to human. The latest research has shown that there is no scientific-based evidence of GMOs responsible for human health risks nor serious environment concerns.
- Despite scientific proofs of GMOs safety, consumers’ concern toward GMOs tends to remain due to its transparency on the markets. Consumers are doubtful because they have little knowledge about GMOs and what is in their food. The ambiguity about products that contain GMOs ingredients raise a perception among costumers that food business and governments try to hide something about the impact of GMOs.
- As the safety of GMOs has been proven, food companies and government should prevent misconception and increase public awareness by being explicit about the ingredients they put on their products. Consumers have the right to know what is in their food and have the right to choose what they think is good for them. Speaking in the perspective of a consumer advocate, I strongly support the regulation of labeling genetically modified products. Moreover, label should be written in the way that is easily understand and recognized by consumers.
- People who are against mandatory GMOs labeling suppose that it is a costly and unnecessary process as 80% of food products need to be labeled. They also argue that the GMOs label might signal that GE food is unsafe. However, they should acknowledge that this is a consumer-centered business and going against consumers’ need would cause more harm than good. One key demand of costumer advocates is to make the use of GMOs more transparent through a system of mandatory labeling, giving them a sense of control, improving trust between consumer and food industry, lowering perceived risk of genetically engineered food.
- Despite the assumption that GMOs label would increase consumers’ concern, Vermont has proven the opposite when being the first state to mandate GMOs labeling in 2014. Kolodinsky and Lusk conducted a research providing causal impact of policy on consumer attitudes toward GMOs. Suprisingly, the result showed 19% reduction in opposition to food only one month after the Vermont law. Kolodinsky and Lusk made their conclusion on psychology of consumer’s perception. The authors concluded that when people gain more control over their outcomes, their concerns tend to fall. In this case, labels help communicate benefits as well as risks of GE technology to general public. As a result, mandatory labels can improve attitudes toward genetically engineered.
- Campbell Soup Company is another successful example of labeling GMOs, which is even more effective by its voluntarily disclosure. According to The New York Times’ interview with the company’s chief executive in 2016, With the belief of costumers’ right to know, Campbell Soup is not only the first food company to disclose the use of GMOs in their products, but also calling for federal regulation to make mandatory labeling of products that use ingredients from GMO crops. The Campbell shared that “costumer rely on us to accurate and simple information about what is in their food”, stating that the company put the consumers at the center of everything they do.
- On 12.20.18, the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, requiring food manufactures, importers and certain retailers to label food containing genetically modified or bioengineered ingredients. The law will be implemented from 1.1.20 and mandatory compliance is on 1.1.22, which means that within three more years every bioengineered food on the U.S markets would be labeled. Despite the mandatory labeling GMO rule has published, the outcome does not satisfy the advocates, from the range of products that are impacted to the way their labels are presented.
- The arguments around proposals to mandatory labeling GMOs in the US is also focused on the way that labels are presented. The definition of BE food would limit the types to products that would be labeled. Many final products from GMO sources, especially refined food that is derived from BE GMO crops like oil made from GMO soy or refined sugar from GMO sugar beet, do not contain detectable modified genetic material, which means that many GMOs may go unlabeled under current definitions and thresholds. In addition, the disclosure does not require GMO statement on packaging as food business can use other formats such as QR code or phone number and web address for clarification. In an article on Food Business News, the author said that “instead of clear on-packaging labeling, consumers will have to call or text manufacturers to find out what is in their food”, which is nothing more supportive than existing voluntary labeling. The author also stated that a fair standard should address the needs of consumers who do not have smart phones or live in rural areas. Personal speaking, the final GMO disclosure did not meet requirements to make a federal standard that could cover all GMOs food and help the consumers recognize easily.
- The government should take consumers’ concern about the new law into consideration and continue to revise and improve the national standard, in which food labels should guide to make the right choice for everyone. It does not matter if one chooses non-GMOs over GMOs or vice versa, everyone has the right to choose products in term of their needs and preferences. I believe that even GMOs or organics, they all play their roles to benefit human needs and require regulation to balance benefits and risks for their applications. Willa Zhen, the author of Food Studies, stated that human beings are distinguished than any other species by the ability of making tools and inventing technologies, which is indispensable in human’s survival history. Scientifically making food has been practiced to help people survive from population explosion, climate change and food sustainability issue. Understanding that bioengineered food is one of the solution of today’s social needs, food businesses should be confident to expose the use of GMO ingredients in order to establish trust with their consumers. At this point of the debate, I strongly urge that the food businesses should readjust their target from their own profits to their consumers’ need and right. Farmers and food companies should be honest to their consumers and be transparent on the use of GMOs ingredients in their food. The government needs to improve label disclosure to be more straightforward, easy for consumers to access and understand. Besides, the consumers themselves should gain their knowledge about bioengineered food to avoid any misconception and be wise consumers. To be concluded, food business, government and consumers should support each other to aim for a sustainable life.