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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe To the editor Michael Reiss's recent editorial downplaying the ethical value of labeling except in cases of extreme need (e.g., for
highly allergenic foods) misses the point entirely. Labeling of a new product with a poor or untested track record for human health consequences is a moral imperative from the vantage point
of public health ethics. Although it is true that the degree of risk is probably from slight to non-existent across much of the spectrum of potentially labeled products—as in the case of
foods labeled as free of genetically modified organism (GMO) residue whose production in fact involves a manufacturing step with, say, a GMO-based enzyme—this low likelihood of risk does not
exempt the manufacturer or purveyor from the duty to provide a clear label. In those circumstances, GMO labeling is analogous to labeling for religious reasons (as in kosher or halal
labeling), where personal belief systems are given priority over the reasonable-risk standard. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access
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subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Director, Center for Ethics & Toxics, Gualala, 95445, CA Marc Lappé Authors * Marc
Lappé View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Lappé, M.
Labeling should be mandatory. _Nat Biotechnol_ 20, 1081–1082 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1102-1081b Download citation * Issue Date: 01 November 2002 * DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1102-1081b SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not
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