Should the Public Discriminate Against Genetically Modified Food from an Economic Perspective？

劉彤

摘 要：This paper aims at GM foods not only provide advantages to both people and the environment， but they also bring huge economic benefits and may be able to solve the world's development problems， such as poverty， hunger， and malnutrition. We require to use a big dataset that can only be collected by survey to determine whether the GM foods are security， profitable， and nutritional. Therefore， I will choose to use the dataset that created by Qaim and Kouser in 2013. Their research is forced on the GM foods and Bt cotton in India. Qaim and Kouser selected four states， Maharashtra， Karnataka， Andhra Pradesh， and Tami Nadu， and did the survey related to food consumption [8]. I use the variables which are the Bt cotton area， income， calorie nutrition consumption per adult equivalents （AE）， and the calorie nutrition that we get from GM foods to do my analysis. Although GM foods may seem imperfectly or incompletely developed， they are in fact crucial in terms of today's concerns about eating healthfully， defending against disease， and solving problems of hunger worldwide.

關(guān)鍵詞： Genetically modified foods， safety， poverty， hunger， malnutrition， and regression model.

Introduction

On July 29， 2016， labeling of genetically modified （GM） foods has been the first time addressed by legislation in United States. Almost 80 percent of GM foods are considered to be safe to eat by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration （FDA） and will be approved through this legislation （Jalonick， 2016） [4]. Whether GM foods should be labeled or regulated has be disputed over time. Labeling GM food and non-GM food protects consumers rights to know and freedom to choose. However， from a scientific， economical， and social standpoint， should the public discriminate against GM foods？ GM foods are engineered and introduced by recombination （World Health Organization， 2014） [12]. This means that scientists use biotechnology to replace an undesirable gene with another more beneficial gene. Plant seeds that are produced in this way are more nutritional to eat， are stronger， and are better able to adapt to the environment. GM foods not only provide advantages to both people and the environment， but they also bring huge economic benefits and may be able to solve the worlds development problems， such as poverty， hunger， and malnutrition.

Literature Review and Discussion

Primarily， GM foods sold on the market are as safe as conventional food， and sophisticated systems of assessment can also guarantee the safety of GM foods before they are sent to market for consumption. Compared with conventional foods， GM foods are effectively engineered by biotechnology. Chassy （2010）， a GM foods advocator and a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois， has claimed that GM foods have the same composition as non-GM foods， and there is no evidence that indicates GM foods pose more significant risks to people or animals than do conventional foods （p. 538） [1]. Furthermore， scientists， food producing companies， governments， and organizations cooperate and perform different respective duties to ensure the safety of GM foods before they are sent to market. The Monsanto Company （2015） states that GM foods are created under worldwide standards and are assessed by independent scientists and regulatory agencies， and scientists in regulatory agencies also use their professional technology to check the quality of GM foods and whether they measure up to the standards [7]. On the one hand， the current assessment methods of genetically modified organisms （GMO） have already been developed to quickly and accurately identify various characteristics of different kinds of GM targets. Some alternative detection approaches related to quantitative polymerase chain reactions have been developed to overcome the defects of existing GMO test strategies， such as protein-based methods and DNA-based methods （Fraiture et al.， 2015， p.2） [2]. On the other hand， in the United States， the FDA， the Department of Agriculture （USDA）， and the Environmental Protection Agency （EPA） cooperate and combine efforts to regulate the compositions of GM foods and the potential presence of allergens to ensure public safety （Singh， 2010） [10]. Accordingly， given the reasonable scientific evidence and reliable guarantees of authority， there should be no doubt regarding the safety of GM foods that are sold on the market [9].