Consumer Voice :: GeneticallyModifiedFood

Food Safety

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Food Safety
Food Standards

What are Genetically Modified Foods and are they really necessary for you?

If you are a strict vegetarian, biting into a juicy tomato should be simple act that affirms your dietary preference. But that is not necessarily so in these days when genetically - modified (GM) foods abound, and what you see may not be quite what you get. That particular tomato could contain a gene from, say, an animal to improve its quality or make it resistant to pesticides or herbicides.

Proponents of GM foods will swear that they are "just the same" as traditional ones but the gene manipulation behind the process is a clear departure from what farmers have been practicing. But there is a difference. Unlike crossbreeding, GM foods involve moving genes between different species. And that is a fundamental difference recombinant DNA just does not occur in nature.

VOICE Team had recently prepared paper on the work done by Foreign organizations and Country positions on the Evaluation of Safety and Nutrition Aspects of Foods Derived from Biotechnology which reflected views of consumer organizations from 32 countries out of which 16 demand mandatory labeling.

It was also noted that consumer organizations from 13 countries are in the process of organizing awareness campaigns on sensitizing the consumers to be cautious on the progress of GMOs. Only three countries have protested against use of GMOs.
The paper also talked about country positions in which it was found that 7 out of 12 countries demanded labeling of GMOs. United States feels that no special labels on Genetically Modified Foods is needed. Thailand has banned imports on GM Seeds and European shoppers have refused to purchase GM Foods.

The marketing of genetic engineering inspires visions of perfect health, long life, and miracle foods. The reality is that these claims are often completely unsubstantiated and sometimes simply wrong. Some of the commonly made claims are :-

Fact	Claim
Genetic engineering is necessary to feed the world.	Hunger in the world is caused by poverty, by the simple inability to buy food, not by lack of supply.
Genetic engineering will help developing countries.	Genetically engineered seeds are designed for agribusiness farming, not for the capabilities of the small family farms of the developing nations. How are they to buy and distribute the required chemical inputs?

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