Re: [DIYbio] Re: Stop Frankenfish?

I must respectfully disagree with Jonathan.

While I understand how he can come to the conclusion he did, I actually come to almost the opposite conclusion.

There are people who would want to know if a product were produced by people they don't like, so they could avoid buying it, and thus harm those people. Should we have labels on everything that state whether they were touched by people of color, or by people whose sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or stance on women's rights fall into some category, so that we can allow people to harm others more easily?

Labeling of food should be limited to things that actually matter to health and nutrition. Allowing someone's politics, religion, or prejudice to dictate what foods are available in the marketplace is a bad idea. The people who want to prevent genetic modification simply because it is genetic modification are the ones pressing hardest for the labeling laws. They are not making their decisions based on whether there is any actual harm or not.

Putting a label on food that may contain peanuts is one thing. Putting a label on food that may have been touched by illegal immigrants is another. One is related to health, the other to politics. If there is a genetic modification that affects the safety or nutrition of the food, that specific problem should be labeled. But how the modification to the food was made is not relevant. If I created a plant with extra phenylalanine, when that plant normally had none, I should label it as containing phenylalanine, so that phenylketonurics can avoid it. But does it matter whether I did it by crossbreeding or by genetic modification? I think not, although crossbreeding is more likely to be harmful, since I have less control over what actually ended up in the plant.

Labeling products as GMO is not about preventing harm. It is about allowing people to harm growers who choose a particular method of improving crops, based on no scientific data showing harm. It is a political statement, based on prejudice. That prejudice creates harm, by preventing companies from providing food at lower costs to people for whom the cost of food is a hardship. Making plants that don't need to have toxic pesticides sprayed on them prevents harm to farmworkers. Making plants that don't need as much water helps the environment. Making plants that fix their own nitrogen prevents eutrophication of streams. Putting a label on such products to allow wealthy people to boycott them for political reasons harms those who work in the fields and can't afford expensive "organic" food.

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On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 4:03 PM, Jonathan Cline <jncline@gmail.com> wrote:

GMO food is evil until the day comes when food sourcing and food packaging is reliable enough for the consumer to make a choice regarding whether or not to purchase the product.  The evil is in the nefarious method of either forcing or sneaking products into the consumer's hands, which the consumer might not prefer or would not pick if given the choice. 

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