Gmo Labeling Case Study

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Furthermore, another noticeable reason why the US government does not impose any regulations to mandate the labeling of GM foods is because GM foods are regulated by more than one government agency including the USDA, the FDA and the EPA. Those agencies share the oversight responsibilities of GM foods as Anderson states in his article (Anderson). The “New Leaf Superior” potato case described by Anderson in his article regarding who is responsible to label the GMO potato that contains a harmful substance Bt, clearly demonstrates why there are many GM food-related issues happened in the US. In this case, either the FDA or the EPA takes no action to require the “New Leaf Superior” potato labeling as either GM food or containing a pesticide, even …show more content…
This is because the production costs of GM foods will increase drastically in order to comply with the requirements of the mandatory labeling. According to the study done by Oregon State in 2002, the estimated annual costs of complying with the requirements of mandatory labeling GM foods in the US are in the range of $770 million to $2.8 billion (qtd. “Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods” 7). These additional production costs will definitely pass on to consumers, which make the price of GM foods become less competitive comparing non-GM foods in the market. Consumers may not be willing to pay the higher prices for GM foods. Furthermore, the opponents claim that the mandatory labeling of GM foods will mislead consumers about the safety of GM foods. Labeling generally has a negative connotation which can be confusing to consumers, and they may decide not to buy the labelled GM foods (qtd. “Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods” 8). However, the opponents’ arguments regarding the mandatory labeling of GM foods are incorrect. According to the article “Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods”, there was a study done by the European Commission-funded in 2006 and 2007 showing that 80% of consumers did not actively avoid buying the labelled GM food products while shopping at the supermarkets (qtd. in “Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods” 7). In fact, the second generation of GM foods may be positively accepted by consumers, although they are labelled. According to a survey conducted by the University of Otago Marketing Commerce in New Zealand in 2007, more than 50% of surveyed consumers rated GM foods positively regarding environmentally friendly and consumer benefits. (qtd. in “Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods” 7). Therefore, the disadvantages of mandatory labeling GM foods