Advocating for the Identification of GMO Ingredients on Labels

Can you imagine buying or even eating food products in which you don’t know what it may contain? This is just the case in todays society. When you go to purchase food products at your local grocery store, many items don’t list if they were Genetically Modified or not. Genetically Modified Organisms should be labeled because they can pose a serious health hazard, most GMOs contain foreign DNA that is not related to the organisms that are being modified, and lastly we all should have the right to know what we are buying and what we are eating. For these reasons, I believe that we should label GMOs on food Items.

My first reason as to why I believe GMOs should be labeled is because many GMOs contain foreign DNA, meaning that any GMO product may contain DNA that is not even closely related to the organism that is being modified. To explain this more in depth, a GMO, or genetically modified organism is achieved when genes of plants, animals, bacteria, and viruses are combined to create an organism that would not occur naturally. An example of this would be pesticide resistant crops that have been genetically modified with the toxic gene of

Bacillus thuringiensis, and this would be inserted into crops to act as a built-in pesticide. Another error that can occur in the using of foreign DNA or viruses in plants is the mutation of viruses. At any given moment a virus can mutate and produce a new and even more harmful strain of DNA.

My second reason as to why I believe GMOs should be labeled on food products is serious health risks they may cause. Proven health hazards from GMOs include carcinogens, rise of toxin levels, resistance to antibiotics, and allergic reactions. The reason being that because these organisms have been modified to have higher level of toxins to make them insect resistant, this has caused these organisms to lose thousands of years of selective breeding to decrease toxicity. Also, the addition of genes to create a plant resistant to predators, often causes the plant’s defense system to involve the synthesis of carcinogens. Finally, when a person tampers with the genes of a plant, they are also irreversibly tampering with the natural patterns of our world, and this is why genetically modified organisms always have a potential for danger.

My third and final reason as to why I believe GMOs should be labeled is because everyone should have the right to know what they are buying and what they are going to put into their bodies. The reason being that if people were aware of what their food contained and the possible health risks that can arise through GMOs, no one would want to eat it. Also, people should be able to know if or if not their food product was genetically modified, because many GMO products require little to no pre-market screening of possible health risks. Meaning that any possible health risk could arise to any single person because of there being no GMO warning on a food product. This is why I believe people should have a right to know if they might or might not be putting harmful chemicals into their bodies.

Many companies appose adding labels to their GMO products, the reason being that it would cost them more money, and the fear of people not buying their products anymore because it contains a GMO. I personally believe it is a small price to pay in labeling your products, because human life is more important than losing money over labeling food products. I believe a GMOs should be labeled to warn people of possible health risks that may arise in them consuming GMO food products. Also, many GMOs contain foreign DNA that is no where close to being related to the organism that is being modified. Finally, I believe that people should know what they are putting into their bodies for their own safety. For all these reasons listed above is why I think GMOs should be labeled.