A ‘Genetically Engineered’ Label: Way More Expensive Than You Think

Pseudo-controversy continues to rage over whether foods from plants and animals genetically engineered with the newest molecular techniques should have to be labeled as such. The battles, fought in the media, state legislatures, referendum issues, and in federal courts, have been largely fomented and funded by the organic agriculture and food industries. All but one of the proposals to require labeling in the United States have failed, and that exception is being challenged in a federal court . In spite of these failures and the fact that mandatory labeling fails every test –scientific, economic, legal and common-sense–the true believers soldier on.