The Ethics of GMO Foods and Utilitarian Principles

GMO foods should be labeled. According to Cummins (2012) “91 % of Americans want GMO foods labeled.” The FDA conducts no pre-market safety testing on GMO foods, and instead relies on companies like Mosanto, DuPont, and Dow Chemical to verify that they are safe for consumers. However, these are also the same companies that lied about the safety of Agent Orange in their 1970’s study that manipulated data so that is would incorrectly show that dioxin is not a human carcinogen.

Without labeling GMO foods, there will never be a way to link them to health concerns because it would be impossible to trace them back to their food origins. Consumer awareness should be a given. People have the right to know “unless those foods are labeled, you are most likely a human lab rat.” It is hard for Americans to make informed decisions about GMO foods because there is not enough reliable information about them.

If labels are added, “food manufacturers will take GMO’s out of their products, rather than risk losing sales by slapping a label proclaiming ‘This product contains GMOs’ on every package.” Furthermore, the way companies like Mosanto protest GMO labeling suggests that they are trying to hide information that would damage the company’s profits.

The fundamental imperative of utilitarian views is that everyone should “always act in a way that will produce the greatest overall good in the world.” According to this view, Francione (2003) believes that the way that we treat animals is not morally justifiable. People have no right to treat animals differently just because they are not human.

An act is wrong if it creates more suffering than benefit. Using animals for food, clothing, and medical experimentation often creates suffering. Instead of stopping these practices, the utilitarian view requires humans should take great care to ensure that animals are able to “live happily during their lives and only slaughter them in painless ways.”

Even though this idea is grounded in the desire to make the world a better place, it is impractical. The animals might lack self-awareness, and “cannot grasp that they have a life.” Treating animals like humans would only raise the price of animal products since the animals would have to be kept in much better conditions.

References

Cummins, R. (2012, September 24). Prop 37: The moment of truth for gmo labeling. NaturalNews. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/037300_Proposition_37_GMO_labeling_food.html

Francione, G. L. (2003). Animal rights theory and utilitarianism: Relative normative guidance. Between the Species, 13(3), 5.