Res earc her Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. CQ www.cqresearcher.com Genetically Modified Food Should labels be required? alifornia voters will decide in November whether foods produced with genetically modified ingredients — so-called GM foods — should bear special labels. C The controversial measure reflects the uneven ac - ceptance of genetically engineered crops since their rise in the 1990s. Organic farmers and other opponents of GM foods contend they may pose health or environmental risks, despite widespread scientific consensus that they are not inherently more risky than other crops. Foes of the labeling referendum, including GM farmers and seed producers, such as Monsanto, say that GM crops are more Plant breeder Alamgir Hossain is developing Golden Rice for Bangladesh. Supporters of the genetically engineered variety say it could save the lives of up to productive, pest-resistant and environmentally friendly than conven - 2.7 million children a year, but it has yet to be planted commercially; the Philippines may approve it for tional crops and that the fast-growing organic industry and misguid - cultivation in 2013. ed consumer groups are to blame for confusion about the science I behind them. Even as GM crops have been embraced by U.S. N THIS REPORT commodity growers, Europe remains skeptical. However, eight of S THE ISSUES ....................719 I the 10 countries with the most acreage in biotech crops are now BACKGROUND ................726 D in the developing world. CHRONOLOGY ................727 E CURRENT SITUATION ........732 CQ Researcher • Aug. 31, 2012 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ........................733 Volume 22, Number 30 • Pages 717-740 OUTLOOK ......................735 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ................738 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ..............739 GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD CQ Re search er Aug. 31, 2012 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 22, Number 30 • Were the benefits of Soybeans and Corn Are MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Billitteri 719 GM crops to consumers 720 Among Biggest GM Crops [email protected] oversold? Commodities, or crops sold ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch • Have existing GM crops on futures exchanges, account [email protected] for 80 percent of GM crop caused environmental harm? CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin field trials in the developed [email protected] • Should GM foods be world. labeled? ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost Permits for GM Crop- STAFF WRITER: Marcia Clemmitt BACKGROUND 721 Testing on Rise Six times as many were issued CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Peter Katel , 726 ‘Green Revolution’ in 2008 as in 1992. Barbara Mantel, Jennifer Weeks High-yield plants helped DESIGN /P RODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis spark a boom in agricul - Genetic Engineering tural production in the 722 by the Numbers ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa 1960s. Key data about GM foods FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris and the industry. The Roaring ’90s 730 Most Acreage Used for U.S. farmers rapidly switched 723 GM Crops to new GM varieties. More than 90 percent of U.S. soybeans are herbicide tolerant. 730 StarLink Recall An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. Contamination from GM U.S. Leads in Biotech VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, corn not for human con - 724 Agriculture HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: sumption forced a food More than 170 million acres Michele Sordi of biotech crops are farmed. recall in 2000. DIRECTOR, ONLINE PUBLISHING: 727 Chronology Todd Baldwin CURRENT SITUATION Key events since 1953. Copyright © 2012 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Pub - Is Tampering With DNA In the Pipeline 728 lications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other 732 Inherently Wrong? rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec i fied in writing. Drought-resistant corn and Anti-GM foods ethicist Jeremy soybeans rich in heart- No part of this publication may be reproduced Rifkin launched the debate in electronically or otherwise, without prior written healthy oils are being 1977. permission. Un au tho rized re pro duc tion or trans mis - developed. sion of SAGE copy right ed material is a violation of At Issue federal law car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. Labeling Battle 733 Should foods containing ge - 734 California’s controversial netically modified ingredients CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional Nov. 6 ballot referendum be labeled? Quarterly Inc. calls for special labels on CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- GM foods. OR URTHER ESEARCH free paper. Pub lished weekly, except: (March wk. 5) F F R (May wk. 4) (July wk. 1) (Aug. wks. 3, 4) (Nov. wk. For More Information 4) and (Dec. wks. 3, 4). Published by SAGE Publica - OUTLOOK 737 Organizations to contact. tions, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Annual full-service subscriptions start at $1,054. For Conflict Ahead? Bibliography pricing, call 1-800-834-9020. To purchase a CQ Re - 735 Increasing friction between 738 Selected sources used. searcher report in print or electronic format (PDF), organic farmers and the visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single bio-tech industry over The Next Step reports start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and seed-production techniques 739 Additional articles . electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals is seen. postage paid at Thousand Oaks, California, and at Citing CQ Researcher additional mailing offices . POST MAST ER: Send ad dress 739 Sample bibliography formats. chang es to CQ Re search er , 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800, Wash ing ton, DC 20037. Cover: International Rice Research Institute 718 CQ Researcher Genetically Modified Food BY JASON MCLURE “Do you give the same sci - THE ISSUES entific weight to evolution and creationism?” asks Adrian hen California vot - Dubock, director of the Gold - ers go to the polls en Rice Project, which seeks W Nov. 6, they’ll be to cut malnutrition and save walking straight into a mas - millions of lives in the devel - sive food fight. oping world through the use On the ballot will be a of GM rice varieties enriched highly contentious proposal with Vitamin A. “There’s a point to require special labels on where the scientific controver - foods produced with genet - sy is over.” ically modified ingredients — On the contrary, the op - so-called GM foods. The fed - position seems to be growing, eral government does not re - says Douglas Gurian-Sherman, quire that GM foods be la - a senior scientist with the Union beled unless they change the of Concerned Scientists, which nutritional content or add favors labeling. “There is clear - toxic or allergenic properties ly more interest and momen - to food. Labeling advocates tum behind it than there was w want any GM food to be la - o 10 years ago,” he says. n K beled, as more than 40 coun - Indeed, big agribusiness o t tries do, including all of Eu - t and biotechnology companies h g rope, Japan and China. i that engineer or produce GM R California’s labeling refer - a crops are pouring resources i n endum has strong support r into halting that momentum. o f i from environmental and food- l a By mid-August, Monsanto, C safety groups that say GM foods Boxes delivered to the Los Angeles County courthouse in Dupont Pioneer, Cargill and — made from crops that have May hold nearly one million signatures from California others had contributed near - had genetic material inserted voters calling for a ballot initiative in November ly $25 million to defeat the or deleted in a laboratory to requiring labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods. statewide initiative — nearly give them specific advan - Organic farmers and some consumer groups support the 10 times the amount raised initiative, contending GM foods may pose health or 3 tages, such as resistance to environmental risks. The GM farming industry notes that by supporters. herbicides — may pose scientific organizations ranging from the National California is the nation’s health or environmental risks. Academy of Science to the World Health Organization biggest consumer market, and Also among the staunchest say GM crops pose no more risk than conventional foods. passage of the referendum labeling supporters are organic could influence GM food poli - farmers, who compete with GM food search, U.S. and international scientif - cies nationwide. Labeling laws or bal - producers. “People have a right to know ic organizations ranging from the Na - lot measures have been proposed in 20 what’s in the food we eat and feed to tional Academy of Science to the states in the past year, according to the our children,” said Stacy Malkan, a spokes - World Health Organization have con - Biotechnology Industry Organization woman for California Right to Know, a cluded that GM crops don’t inherent - (BIO), a trade group. And more than a coalition that has spearheaded the bal - ly pose more risk than their conven - million people signed a petition this year lot measure . 1 tional counterparts. What’s more, they urging the Food and Drug Administra - But GM farming giants and other say genetically modified crops are more tion (FDA) to require labeling. referendum foes argue that the health productive, pest-resistant and envi - California’s referendum campaign is and environmental concerns are un - ronmentally fri endly than convention - part of a much bigger, two-decades- founded, and that the labeling effort al crops — and they’ve been consumed old debate about the safety, effective - is an attempt to demonize a technol - by millions of people in the U.S. for ness and commercial viability of agri - ogy with enormous potential benefits. nearly two decades without any docu - cultural biotechnology. GM supporters They note that after extensive re - mented health consequences. 2 argue that abundant peer-reviewed www.cqresearcher.com Aug.