It's one thing testing foods on adults who have stopped growing. It's another altogether to be using babies and young kids as guinea pigs too. Kids' bodies behave rather differently to adult ones because they are growing fast. Millions of cells are dividing every day. Bones are getting bigger, brains heavier and muscles stronger. Many people believe that it is a mistake to give kids 'novel (GE) foods' to eat when there's plenty of natural food around which everyone knows is okay since kids have been eating it for thousands of generations. As a result of big protests, most baby food manufacturers have now stopped using GE ingredients, and many now have lines of organic babyfood.
Companies who make medicines have to test their products (which, unlike food, you take in very small doses for - usually - limited times, just while you're sick) very carefully indeed. It takes many years and costs a lot of money but it does mean that when they are used on a large scale, there's a good chance that only a few people will react badly to them. Many people who are worried about GE food feel that the companies who are so keen for it to become part of everyone's diet should also be forced to test the foods really thoroughly - or, better, be forced to pay some independent group (who won't profit from any approval) to do the testing. '', they insist, is a serious mistake.
It's one thing testing foods on adults who have stopped growing. It's another altogether to be using babies and young kids as guinea pigs too. Kids' bodies behave rather differently to adult ones because they are growing fast. Millions of cells are dividing every day. Bones are getting bigger, brains heavier and muscles stronger. Many people believe that it is a mistake to give kids 'novel (GE) foods' to eat when there's plenty of natural food around which everyone knows is okay since kids have been eating it for thousands of generations. As a result of big protests, most baby food manufacturers have now stopped using GE ingredients, and many now have lines of organic babyfood.
I
think the precautionary principle - don't make something which has not been
properly tested and whose effects on people and the environment you don't yet
know - is sound common sense. But it's not up to me. I'm just a penguin. It's
up to you and your friends. What do you think?