Position Paper, Question 1

There are many reasons why there should be government regulations requiring genetically engineered foods to be labeled. One reason is because people have a right to know what they are buying and what is being put in their food. Everything is labeled nowadays, why not add genetically engineered foods to the list. Another reason is because there are ricks of genetically engineered foods and people deserve to know what these risks are, which include modified plants or animals that may have genetic changes that are unexpected and harmful and another is plants may be less resistant to some pests and more susceptible to others. Another reason is because people should be allowed to decide if they want genetically engineered foods or non-genetically engineered foods. Another reason is that the genetically engineered foods are not labeled then the person who ate the food and had a health problem because of eating the foods could sue the government for not labeling the product or the store from where the person bought the food. Also, a huge reason these foods should be labeled is because there are many religious concerns. Some of these concerns include the religious vegetarians, such as the Buddhists, want to avoid fruits and vegetables with inscect, animal, or human genes in them. Also, Jews who keep kosher food laws want to be able to make sure that genetically engineered foods do not violate their restrictions. One last reason why genetically engineered foods should be labeled is that many people have many ethnical objections to the genetic engineering research and development that is going on and want to avoid it, however they can't, unless the genetically engineered foods are labeled. These are only a few reasons why there should be government regulations requiring genetically engineered foods to be labeled, but there are many, many more as well.