GMO Crops: Retail Position Statements and Point of View 

Here are excerpts of position statements from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food, Food Marketing Institute and major grocery retailers, Wegman’s and Publix. Links to the full text of each statement are also enclosed. 

• Grocery Manufacturers Association
• Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food (PDF)
• Food Marketing Institute (PDF)
• Wegmans' position on GMOs
• Publix's position on GMOs

GMO Crops: Third-party Position Statements 

Third-party organizations have reviewed the data on GMOs and are in agreement to their safety. Please see the following statements from domestic and international organizations. 
 

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA's Role in Regulating Safety of GE Foods, May 2013 
  “Food and food ingredients derived from GE [a.k.a. GM] plants must adhere to the same safety requirements … that apply to food and food ingredients derived from traditionally bred plants. The consultation is complete only when FDA’s team of scientists are satisfied with the [GM food] developer's safety assessment and have no further questions regarding safety or other regulatory issues.”
• World Health Organization, February 2002 
  “GM foods currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved.”
• American Medical Association Council on Science and Public Health, June 2012
  “Bioengineered foods have been consumed for close to 20 years, and during that time, no overt consequences on human health have been reported and/or substantiated in the peer-reviewed literature.”
• European Academies Science Advisory Council, June 2013
  “The production of more food, more sustainably, requires the development of crops that can make better use of limited resources. … Sustainable agricultural production and food security must harness the potential of biotechnology in all its facets.”
• The Royal Society of Medicine, February 2002
  “The results need to be viewed in the context of a normal diet, which for humans and animals comprises large amounts of DNA. Given the very long history of DNA consumption from a wide variety of sources, we conclude that such consumption poses no significant risk to human health, and that additional ingestion of GM DNA has no effect.”

Academics' Statements
 

Alison Van Eenennaam, Ph.D., Animal Genomics and Biotechnology Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California — Davis, 2014:

“There are many publicly funded groups around the world, working to develop GM-disease resistant varieties of crops, including apples, bananas, cassava, cowpea, eggplant, grapes, potatoes, rice, sweet potatoes, and wheat. Some of these staple crops are an essential source of nutrient in the diets of the poor. And it doesn't stop at plants. Researchers at CUNY are working with an international consortium to develop genetically-engineered cattle that are resistant to African Sleeping Sickness, a disease that kills several thousand people and three million cattle annually. This project is being publicly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the U.S. National Science Foundation. All of these GM applications focus on controlling disease with genetics rather than chemicals, an objective that I would argue is compatible with agroecology, sustainability, and feeding more people better with less environmental impact. There are literally dozens of other applications and field trials globally.”

David Zilberman, Ph.D., Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California — Berkeley, July 2012:

“Studies that investigated the benefits of adoption of GMOs around the world have identified a wide variety of benefits, from increased yield and reduced cost, reduced financial risk associated with farming, as well as non-monetary benefits like reduced pesticide exposure for farmworkers and reduced effort associated with monitoring pests and application of pesticides.”

Carl Winter, Ph.D., Specialist, Cooperative Extension, Food, Science and Technology Department, University of California — Davis, 2006:

“While genetic engineering of food continues to generate concern and controversy for some consumers, evidence to date has not indicated that any foods developed for human consumption using genetic engineering techniques pose risks greater than foods produced using traditional methods.”