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Line 3: {{Split-apart|date=October 2012}} The '''genetically modified foods controversy''' is a dispute over the relative advantages and disadvantages of [[genetically modified food]], [[genetically modified crops]] used to produce food and other goods, and other uses of [[genetically modified organism]]s in food production. The dispute involves consumers, biotechnology companies, governmental regulators, non-governmental organizations and scientists. The key areas of controversy related to genetically modified (GM) food are: risk of harm from GM food, whether GM food should be labeled, the role of government regulators, the effect of GM crops on the environment, and GM crops' context as part of the industrial agriculture system. There is broad scientific consensus that food on the market derived from GM crops pose no greater risk than conventional food.<ref>AAAS Board of Directors (2012) [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/1025gm_statement.shtml Legally Mandating GM Food Labels Could Mislead and Falsely Alarm Consumers]</ref><ref>Dr. Christopher Preston AgBioWorld 2011. [http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech-art/peer-reviewed-pubs.html Peer Reviewed Publications on the Safety of GM Foods]</ref><ref name=NRC2004>NRC. (2004). Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects. National Academies Press. [http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10977#toc Free full-text]. See pp11ff on need for better standards and tools to evaluate GM food.</ref><ref name=UC-Safety>Winter CK and Gallegos LK. (2006) [http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8180.pdf Safety of Genetically Engineered Food.] University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications Publication 8180.</ref><ref>Pamela Ronald (2011) [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/08/11/genetically-engineered-crops/ Genetically Engineered Crops—What, How and Why]</ref><ref>Associated Press. Alicia Chang (2012) [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49726577/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/california-voters-rebuff-labels-gmo-foods/ California voters rebuff labels on GMO foods]</ref> No reports of ill effects have been documented in the human population from GM food.<ref name=NRC2004>NRC. (2004). Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects. National Academies Press. [http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10977#toc Free full-text]. See pp11ff on need for better standards and tools to evaluate GM food.</ref><ref name="Key">{{cite journal | author = Key S, Ma JK, Drake PM | title = Genetically modified plants and human health | journal = J R Soc Med | volume = 101 | issue = 6 | pages = 290–8 | year = 2008 | month = June | pmid = 18515776 | pmc = 2408621 | doi = 10.1258/jrsm.2008.070372 }}</ref><ref>REPORT 2 of the Council on Science and Public Health. (2012) [http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/csaph/a12-csaph2-bioengineeredfoods.pdf Labeling of Bioengineered Foods]</ref> Supporters of food derived from GMOs hold that food is as safe as other foods and that labels send a message to consumers that GM food is somehow dangerous. They trust that regulators and the regulatory process are sufficiently objective and rigorous, and that risks of contamination of the non-GM food supply and of the environment can be managed. They trust that there is sufficient law and regulation to maintain competition in the market for seeds, believe that GM technology is key to feeding a growing world population, and view GM technology as a continuation of the manipulation of plants that humans have conducted for millennia.
Advocacy groups such as [[Greenpeace]] and [[World Wildlife Fund]] have concerns that risks of GM food have not been adequately identified and managed, and have questioned the objectivity of regulatory authorities. Opponents of food derived from GMOs are concerned about the safety of the food itself and wish it banned, or at least labeled. They have concerns about the objectivity of regulators and rigor of the regulatory process, about contamination of the non-GM food supply, about effects of GMOs on the environment, about industrial agriculture in general, and about the consolidation of control of the food supply in companies that make and sell GMOs, especially in the developing world. Some are concerned that GM technology tampers too deeply with nature.
==Public perception== | |||