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Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made history when the federal agency approved the first genetically modified (GMO) animal for human consumption: AquaBounty Technologies’ GMO salmon. The controversial move has since opened floodgates about the future of food. Whatever side of the fence you’re on about this fish—which has been genetically altered to grow to market size twice as fast as wild salmon—you’ll have no idea you’re eating it anyway. The FDA has not required the product to carry a label. NYT editorial board in favor of GMO labeling: Tell Consumers What They Are Eating https://t.co/39K00A5Tah pic.twitter.com/mLr7Z1IWcP As the controversy of GMO labeling enters mainstream dialogue, this issue is quickly becoming a heated one. Here are the big five facts you need to know about the current standings of the debate: According to a new poll of 800 registered voters commissioned by a coalition of consumer and environmental groups—including Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports—nearly 90 percent of Americans want mandatory labeling on genetically modified foods. This is compounded by Tuesday’s New York Times editorial board in reaction to the FDA’s approval of GMO salmon. In a significant reversal of opinion from the newspaper’s 2013 editorial board, the board advocated for a label and stated, “consumers deserve to know what they are eating.” “The FDA said there is no reason to mandate labeling because there is no material difference between engineered and natural fish on qualities like nutritional content. But the value of that information should be left to consumers to decide,” the board wrote. Still, it seems consumer concern has fallen on the FDA’s deaf ears. After the approval of the fish, the Center for Food Safety announced plans to sue the FDA and submitted a citizen petition requiring GMO foods be labeled. The FDA rejected the petition and stated, “While we appreciate consumer interest in the labeling of food derived from genetically engineered plants, consumer interest alone does not provide a sufficient basis to require labeling disclosing whether a food has been produced with or without the use of such genetic engineering.” 2. Monsanto and Big Food are trying very hard to stop state-wide labeling. Another hurdle in GMO labeling comes from the food industry itself. GMO food is nearly ubiquitous in American diets. The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)—the world’s largest trade association for 300 major food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and ConAgra—says that GMOs have been around for the past 20 years, and today, 70-80 percent of foods in the U.S. contain ingredients that have been genetically modified. Even though several states such as Vermont have passed laws requiring the labeling of GMOs, the GMA has spent millions and and heavily lobbied to block state labeling mandates. Their concern, basically, is that it will be too expensive and complicated for food companies to make a special label for Vermont but not for the other 49 states. “A deep concern is that we’ll end up with a patchwork quilt of state-by-state regulations where you’ll end up in a place where you can’t move a can of soup from one state to the other,” Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant told CBS News in a new interview. RT @EcoWatch: Mark Ruffalo: 'Monsanto Chief is Horrible' https://t.co/DaUSHm3RTC #Monsanto #gmo Grant also said that the cost of the labels would be passed onto the consumer: “The consumer is going to end up paying four or five hundred dollars more a year on their grocery bills.” No other company has been more intertwined with the GMO debate than Monsanto, the genetically modified seed giant and producer of Roundup, an herbicide that’s sprayed on “Roundup Ready” crops all over the world.
