The government has mandated labeling standards to warn consumers of potential hazards, like smoking's link to cancer and lung disease.
But science illiterates (AKA progressive social authoritarians) are taking that example and insisting GM foods should also carry a warning label - despite no instance of them being harmful or unhealthy.
The labeling question was debated in the 1990s and it was determined that labeling of new GM products would be required only if the foods themselves posed a safety concern - which makes sense. The first GM products were introduced in the United States around 1994 and by 1999, approximately 60 percent of all produce found in the typical grocery store was grown using GM seeds. Today, 16.7 million farmers in 29 countries grow GM crops. And numerous studies continue to confirm the safety of such products.
So why cater to science illiterates wrapping themselves in a flag of 'transparency'?
Even the European Commission, as anti-science a bunch as you can get, has concluded that there is no scientific research associating GMOs "with higher risks for the environment or for food and feed safety than conventional plants and organisms."
Labels too costly, unneeded by Susan K. Finston, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
H/T David DeSpain
