Post production
Research, field trials and tests for effects on human health and environment are the back end of the regulation of GM foods. The finished product containing ingredients of GM crops can be regulated through labelling the products. This is a highly controversial issue. Even if GM foods are entirely safe, should the consumer have a choice to consume (or not consume) a food with GM ingredients? Even in countries where GM food has been on the shelf for more than five years (the US and Canada), opinion polls have shown that a sizeable proportion of the population wants to know if the food they eat has GM ingredients or not.
Several countries are either actively considering labelling of GM foods or have already passed the laws that require labelling of GM food. In India, there has been talk of a labelling system recently. Sri Lanka, which imposed a ban on GM foods two years ago, has indicated that it is considering a labelling system that would replace the ban. China announced a labelling system in 2001, but it is yet to work out; the US has criticised China's labelling regulations, saying the Chinese have not presented any science to support the regulations. The US is clearly worried about the export of soybean, which in 2001 was worth upwards of US $1 billion, as well as corn and cotton. China's concern is its own exports to countries that may require labelling. On April 28, 2003, the Brazilian government announced that all food and food ingredients made from more than one per cent GM ingredients must be labelled. The biggest labelling tussle is between the US and the European Union (EU).
The US has been supportive of biotechnology from the word go and its approach is heavily influenced by large biotech corporations. It assumes that the regulation of biotechnology should examine the safety of only the final product, not the GM crops. It does not require labelling of products containing GM products. In 1992, it issued regulations that approve of GM food if it has the same characteristics as its non-GM counterparts. By 2002, the area under GM crops in the US was more than 38 million hectares, 66 per cent of the total area under GM crops in the world.
The EU's approach has been more cautious in recent years. Europe saw several scandals over food safety in the 1990s
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