The Benefits Of Mandatory Labeling

Superior Essays
There is a big battle going on right in our back yard. It is the battle between labeling and not labeling. This battle has to do with the food industry not wanting to put crucial information on their products label. This information is about Genetically Modified Organisms. Most of the developed foreign countries have a law about GMOs being required to be on the label of food. Some countries have banned the sale of GMOs altogether, but not the United States. Europe requires a special label for foods with GMOs in it, as does China and Canada. Why are we left out? Why do we as consumers not get a say in what we put in our bodies.
The US does not have a labeling laws yet because we are misinformed about GMOs. GMOs are foods that have been changes
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A study in 2009 showed that "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with genetically modified food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.” (Health Risks) Even though GMO effects have only been studied in animals it is an alarming conclusion. If the animals that were tested are showing these side effects of GMOs, then what does that mean for the consumers? Mandatory labeling should be required for GMOs so that the consumer can choose whether or not they would like the risk of not being able to produce children, being more susceptible to disease, getting older faster, and being immune to antibiotics. Some GMOs have been injected with antibiotics to help reduce disease of the plants. As we eat these foods with antibiotics, we are building up a tolerance to that specific antibiotic. That means that when we get a cold or a flu, and are prescribed medication for our sickness, then we have a higher chance of the antibiotics not working. We have a higher chance of the antibiotics not working, because we have been consuming food that contains GMOs and building up an immunity to antibiotics. Genetically Modified Organisms are not only a threat to our bodies, but to the environment as …show more content…
The reason why they do not think it is hurting are environment is because they only know about the final product. Most consumers do not know or think about all the previous steps that farmers have to go through. We can sometimes forget about what goes in to growing out food. Consumers do not know about the process the farmers use to produce our food. They have to first plant the seeds, then grow the seeds, then harvest the outcome. The first steps are where GMOs are hurting our environment. This is when the GMOs are inserted into our ecosystem forever changing the environment. People have a tendency to rely on the information they are provided. This is most true with food labels. Most people think that all the information is there for us to read about. This is not the case in the United States. We have no mandatory labeling laws about GMOs. This means that we can be eating foods that have been genetically altered. Food companies can leave out this important information and have it be perfectly legal. We need to have labeling laws so that the consumers can have the right to know what is in our

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