Why not label genetically engineered crops?
We don’t believe that genetically engineered crops pose any new risks compared to crops developed by artificial selection. Despite extensive testing, nobody has found anything different between them that poses a risk to human health. Political opponents of genetic engineering occasionally claim to worry about subtle or long-term effects, and it is indeed possible that there may be some. It is also true that there may be subtle or long-term effects of any or all foods we eat. The scientific and mathematical tools to find such health risks have existed for only the past few decades, so it’s not clear that we could find these risks for food developed by artificial selection, even if we had been looking. As far as we can tell, the enemies of genetic engineering want to label food produced by genetic engineering to instill fear in potential customers, by implying there is some difference. We might humbly suggest that food developed by older techniques be labelled, “This food contains geneti
