Poll: Americans Want Labels on GMO Food

A new poll conducted by Associated Press-GfK reveals two-thirds of Americans want food manufacturers to put labels on food with genetically modified organisms (GMOs.)

The December survey shows only 7 percent are opposed to the labeling.

However, even though Americans want GMOs labeled, they don’t consider genetically modified food important when making decisions about healthy food choices. Only one in four say the presence of GMOs are very or extremely important to them.

Andrew Chen of Seattle said: “GMO ingredients aren’t the number one thing, but more than likely within a processed food I’d find something that is a genetically modified product.”

Genetically modified food is resistant to pesticides and plant diseases.  In fact, most corn and soybeans are genetically modified now which means that animal feed, food for cows or chickens, is also genetically modified.  You may be eating GMOs in your protein choices whether you realize it or not. The effects of GMO food are unknown as of yet, so consumer advocates support labeling to inform consumers what is in their food.

Several states have taken measures to label GMOs. Vermont is the first state to require GMO labeling that will take effect in 2016, assuming the law survives a court challenge. Maine and Connecticut have also passed laws that are contingent upon neighboring states passing the same kind of laws. There were failed ballot initiatives in California, Washington and Oregon recently to label GMOs.

But many food items are already marked “organic” or state that they are not genetically modified. Depending on where you shop — for instance, I shop more frequently than I should at Whole Foods. The produce and fruit there are marked as “conventionally grown” or “organic.” Packaged products will state they are “GMO free.” Even the regular grocery store carries certain brands that are labeled as “organic” or has packaging that states the food has no GMO ingredients.  Such package and signage is voluntary and is in response to demand. As it should be.

The food industry is opposed to such labeling.  Writes the AP: “The food industry and seed companies have aggressively fought attempts to force labeling, and have pushed a bill in Congress that would block those efforts. The bill by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas, would reaffirm that such food labels are voluntary, overriding any state laws that require them.”

A congressional hearing in December raised the question whether the GMO labeling would be misleading since there is no evidence that GMOs are unsafe. Clearly, the industry is concerned that GMOs will hurt their bottom line.  Maybe they should be, but if GMOs are unappealing to consumers, farmers and food manufacturers should voluntarily market their goods as GMO-free.

One depressing finding of the survey is that there is no partisan difference in the desire to mandate labeling requirements.  “Even among conservative Republicans, more than 6 in 10 favor a labeling requirement.” I’d like to hope the party who claims it is opposed to big government would be opposed to yet another attempt of the government to regulate an industry, the cost of which will be passed along to consumers. I guess not.

Jay Jaffe, a Republican from Philadelphia, says he strongly favors labeling even though he has no problem buying GMOs. “If they are cheaper and they taste right to me, I’ll buy it,” he says. “Still, he thinks there should be accountability in the food industry. ‘It should be there and not in small print,’ he said of GMO labels. ‘People should be able to make a choice.’ ”

The AP-GfK Poll of 1,010 adults was conducted online Dec. 4-8, using a sample drawn from GfK’s probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.