Petition to FDA Seeks Genetically Engineered Food Label

Posted on March 29, 2012

A campaign to get genetically engineered foods labelled as such by the Food and Drug Administration looks to be gaining support.

The Just Label It Campaign has filed a petition with the FDA to make such labeling a rule, and they have released a statement claiming that more than one million people have pledged their support.  The company also cited statistics which state that 93% of Americans are in favor of such a system.

Such labeling would align the United States with a number of other countries, including Japan, Russia, Australia, and partner countries of the European Union.

The Center for Food Safety tasked its attorneys with crafting the petition.  The FDA now has six months to consider the content of that document and respond to the public.  Proponents of the petition say that genetically engineered crops raises the price of land, preventing new businesses from forming and hindering limited resource farms.  They say that such farmers are also at the mercy of a small group of seed providers that can set a high fixed price.

Right now, the only choice that consumers have to guarantee they’re not consuming genetically engineered products is to purchase food that has been certified organic.

As a personal injury lawyer in San Jose, I’ll be curious to see what happens should the FDA accept the terms of the petition.  Would it mean that if a genetically engineered ingredient slips into a food product, that product might be recalled as a threat to safety?  It’s hard to say at this juncture, but I’ll certainly be paying attention as a Bakersfield personal injury lawyer.

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