| This year, the topic chosen by Consumers International for this event is Genetically Modified Foods, also known as genetically modified foods or transgenic foods.
Trade
Labelling of Genetically Modified Foods is one of the most immediate of these trade issues. Why? Because consumers have a right to know what they're buying and what they're eating. Yet, so far, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has refused to adopt mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods, acquiescing to the interests of genetically modified crop exporting countries and ignoring a growing international consensus for labelling that now includes the governments of the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and more. Consumers International will be stepping up the pressure for mandatory labelling at the next Codex Committee on Food Labelling, to be held in early May.
Consumer Challenges
Consumers are framing quite different questions than those being raised by governments and corporations, like Monsanto – the worlds top producer of genetically modified seeds – which have foisted genetically modified organisms onto the marketplace before necessary regulations are in place to protect consumer rights and safety. Consumers may not be willing to jeopardize long-term health and safety merely to allow corporations to rush new foods to the market before regulators have a chance to catch up. |
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"Even where safety evaluations are thorough," Consumers International maintains, "it is still naive at this stage of development in any new technology to presume that all potential risks to consumers' health have been identified.
Consumers are also challenging the assumptions upon which decisions are being made in their name. Consumers want governments to adopt a "better safe than sorry" approach to genetically modified organisms not an "Innocent until proven guilty" approach. We call this the "Precautionary Principle" and we demand that it take precedence over the profit motive when it comes to consumer health.
Use of Technology
The introduction of genetically modified foods demonstrates the terrible double standard in the way current regulatory frameworks deal with technological innovations for things people put in their mouths. A new medication which will be used by thousands of people must demonstrate clear benefit to the consumers who are also the main victims of any risks. At least theoretically, no one can market a drug that only benefits the drug company or the pharmacy. Only when there exists clear benefit to the consumer do we proceed to weigh the risks. |
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Under current regulatory frameworks in many countries, genetically modified foods which entire populations may consume daily for the rest of their lives, in quantities measured in kilos, not milligrams, need not offer any benefit to the consumer or to society at large. This double standard is a holdover from the traditional understanding of foodstuffs as "generally recognized as safe." While corn and rice have been planted and eaten by humankind for millennia, and such a standard makes sense for them, the same cannot be said of the genetically modified versions made possible by modern technology, which may introduce a variety of new risks for human health.
Consumers and their allies in the environmental movement are also alarmed about the unknown impacts that genetically modified crops can have on the environment.
Science can forecast risks to the environment but it does not have the final word. Nature does, and the lessons of the past – for example, the consequence of the chemical revolution – pollution, toxic waste and cancer – took half a century to surface. The environmental implications of biotech may remain unidentified for years or decades.
The genetically modified food controversy has brought new dynamism to the consumer movement, new alliances, and new strategies. We are working on multiple fronts: with international standards agencies, with governments, with businesses, with consumers. We are full of energy, ideas and the capacity to carry them through; we are optimistic that we will achieve our goals.
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