;t work for genetically engineered food. The chemical produced by the original gene can be tested in this way, but the problem is that when the gene is inserted into plant DNA it can be expressed differently, or even change the expression of genes located around the insertion point (and thereby change the concentration or structure of other chemicals produced by the plant). Therefore, the only way to truly test a bioengineered plant is to feed it in its entirely to an animal and observe the effects. However, it is impossible to feed an animal enough of a GM plant that the negative effects, if they existed, would be seen quickly. There are several methods under development to try to compare the entire chemical composition of two plants, but they aren’t very exact yet. Preliminary tests show that there are greater differences in composition between the same variety of tomato grown in different conditions than between GM tomatoes and regular tomatoes grown in the same ones. While this is very encouraging for the biotech industry, there is still no way to test whether any of the differences between the GM and normal crops involve compounds that are toxins or allergens to humans (“Unpalatable Truths”).Because of the above reasons, many people want the government to require that foods containing genetically modified foods be labeled as such (as an alternative to banning them). They say that labeling would protect people with allergies, assist people who have religious problems with bioengineered food, give people the option of whether to support the genetic engineering industry, and would follow public opinion (which strongly supports labeling). In addition, proponents of the proposed policy say that it would help ease trade relations between the U.S. and the European Union, which won’t import genetically modified food (“Why Labeling?”). However, there are also many opponents of labeling who suppor...
