Genetically Engineered Food Argumentative Essay
“It so hard to see your son begging for water, not asking, begging. And you can’t do anything about it because it will make his situation worse,” tears flow like a river from her eyes, she had difficulty sharing. She added, “despite those sacrifices, he still said goodbye to us.” Hearing the mother telling how her child died made my heart twitched. “It’s so hard to believe that within three days my son died because of eating a hamburger,” she said. After her son died, she went through many processes to make certain that his son will not die in vain. After months, Kevin’s bill, a proposal initiated by Kevin’s mom to label Genetically-Modified Food (GMO), was rejected. Even with lots of effort of people to make certain it pass and despite of the strong reasons stated, the Congress still vetoed it.
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“The main reason we don’t want GMO to be labeled is because we are afraid people might become afraid to buy,” the Food and Drug Administration reasoned.
Hearing those words from the people who is suppose to be protecting us made me angry. How can someone like that exist? Treating people’s lives unimportant and making profits their top priority. People are dying because of lack of information, yet, they are thinking of money.
Additionally, it has been proven that The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act will have no cost impact on consumers or food producers. It simply adds a label to genetically engineered food. Companies change their labeling all the time. They argued that people will be afraid to buy. But if you view it as a consumer, you will see that they already know that the food they eat has GMO and not proven to be safe, yet, they still buy it. Thus, this argument is not convincing.
I strongly believe that GMO should be labeled. Refusing to pass Kevin’s law is like a
murder. The main reason we want them labeled is that we see enough independent data to suggest possible health risks. Unlike the strict safety evaluations required for the approval of new drugs, the safety of genetically engineered foods for human consumption is not adequately tested. There have been no long-term studies conducted on the safety of genetically engineered foods on humans. According to Dr. Josefa Rangel of Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Escherichia coli causes 73,000 illness in the United States annually. On average 0.5 % of those die and 52 % are foodborne (GMO). We want to minimize eating them until enough studies prove that it is safe, but we can’t know which foods they are in if they aren’t labeled. It’s a basic consumer right we are asking for- given the conflicting data and our mistrust in an industry that has been proven to hide negative findings, we have the right to know what we are buying and putting in our mouth. 50 countries with over 40% of the world’s population already label genetically engineered foods, including the entire European Union. Even China labels genetically engineered foods. United States should lead on this important issue. What do these countries know that we don't? Despite of the health risks, why won’t the government let us know? Federal labeling legislation has been before Congress since 1999. GMO labeling legislation has been tried a number of times in California, but either never makes it to committee or doesn’t get out of it. A labeling bill for cloning actually made it through the legislature, but was then vetoed by the governor. It could not get out of the Appropriations Committee in May 2011 and has been pushed back to January 2012. Fourteen other states have bills before their legislatures that have gone nowhere. While we will continue to work on and fully support legislative efforts, I strongly believe that we don’t have time to wait for our governing bodies to enact GMO labeling laws. It’s time to send a strong, direct message to those who govern us, whether it be agency or elected, that we want genetically engineered foods labeled. It’s time for the Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act pass. It’s time for us to know the food we are eating. It’s time for the government to clear their minds. Life is more valuable than money.
“The main reason we don’t want GMO to be labeled is because we are afraid people might become afraid to buy,” the Food and Drug Administration reasoned.
Hearing those words from the people who is suppose to be protecting us made me angry. How can someone like that exist? Treating people’s lives unimportant and making profits their top priority. People are dying because of lack of information, yet, they are thinking of money.
Additionally, it has been proven that The Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act will have no cost impact on consumers or food producers. It simply adds a label to genetically engineered food. Companies change their labeling all the time. They argued that people will be afraid to buy. But if you view it as a consumer, you will see that they already know that the food they eat has GMO and not proven to be safe, yet, they still buy it. Thus, this argument is not convincing.
I strongly believe that GMO should be labeled. Refusing to pass Kevin’s law is like a
murder. The main reason we want them labeled is that we see enough independent data to suggest possible health risks. Unlike the strict safety evaluations required for the approval of new drugs, the safety of genetically engineered foods for human consumption is not adequately tested. There have been no long-term studies conducted on the safety of genetically engineered foods on humans. According to Dr. Josefa Rangel of Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Escherichia coli causes 73,000 illness in the United States annually. On average 0.5 % of those die and 52 % are foodborne (GMO). We want to minimize eating them until enough studies prove that it is safe, but we can’t know which foods they are in if they aren’t labeled. It’s a basic consumer right we are asking for- given the conflicting data and our mistrust in an industry that has been proven to hide negative findings, we have the right to know what we are buying and putting in our mouth. 50 countries with over 40% of the world’s population already label genetically engineered foods, including the entire European Union. Even China labels genetically engineered foods. United States should lead on this important issue. What do these countries know that we don't? Despite of the health risks, why won’t the government let us know? Federal labeling legislation has been before Congress since 1999. GMO labeling legislation has been tried a number of times in California, but either never makes it to committee or doesn’t get out of it. A labeling bill for cloning actually made it through the legislature, but was then vetoed by the governor. It could not get out of the Appropriations Committee in May 2011 and has been pushed back to January 2012. Fourteen other states have bills before their legislatures that have gone nowhere. While we will continue to work on and fully support legislative efforts, I strongly believe that we don’t have time to wait for our governing bodies to enact GMO labeling laws. It’s time to send a strong, direct message to those who govern us, whether it be agency or elected, that we want genetically engineered foods labeled. It’s time for the Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act pass. It’s time for us to know the food we are eating. It’s time for the government to clear their minds. Life is more valuable than money.