The topic of food safety has now become a widespread discussion among people all over the world. After the development of GMOs, genetically modified organisms, problems have arisen in the most diverse cases in which people or animals have been affected by this new advent. In an effort to promote food safety, the Center for Food Safety and the Food and Drug Administration have postulated their own ideas about what social “food safety” should look like, regarding the topic of GMO foods. The Center for Food Safety believes that all foods should be labeled as GMO or non-GMO, while the Food and Drug Administration strongly opposes that idea. While both organizations want to create a safer way to consume food, both groups disagree on one thing: labeling GMO foods. Even if the two sides firmly maintain their conflicting beliefs, it is certainly possible to reach a compromise by analyzing similar concepts of what food safety is, such as ensuring what is in food products and labeling them correctly, and implementing these ideas into their plans. The two groups should follow a series of steps that will allow them to reach a common goal, encourage the groups to present their ideas to the public and lead them to a compromise. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is a national nonprofit organization that serves to promote safer health for people and the environment. The Center for Food Security has found new ways to encourage the use of organic foods and agriculture, while discouraging the implementation of unnatural food production technologies. Their motto, “protect our food, our farms and our environment,” can be seen throughout the group's history of action for change (Center for Food Security 1). For fifteen years the organization has clashed with the genetically modified organism industries. The Center for Food and Safety has fought over the misuse of pesticides and how such chemicals could potentially harm all crops on a larger scale. The CFS has served as a powerful voice for farmers and farming communities to defend them from large corporations seeking to usurp and destroy natural methods of farming. CFS took part in the first US Supreme Court case on genetically engineered crops fighting adversary Monsanto. Monsanto is the world's leading agricultural biotechnology company that has brought scandalous lawsuits aimed at destroying the fundamental ways American farmers farm. Monsanto illegally began its genetic engineering (GE) invasion of Oregon farmers' crops. What Monsanto didn't know were the extremely harmful factors its genetically modified wheat crops had on local farmers' crops. GMO wheat has contaminated conventional wheat, making it unfit for consumption and profit in various markets that do not accept GMO products. Such contamination of GMO crops has devastated numerous agricultural organizations, causing over a billion in losses and economic burdens to local farmers. The Center for Food Safety took the initiative to represent farmers affected by contaminated crops by filing suit against Monsanto to compensate for its mistakes (Center for Food Safety 1). From an accident like chanceprevious year, the CFS quickly learned how important it was for food products to be labeled for what they were actually made of. Speaking on behalf of all people who have the right to know what is in their food, the Center for Food Safety is committed to the labeling of GMO foods. The Food and Drug Administration is another group that holds the ultimate responsibility for all aspects of public health and oversees the issue of food safety. On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act, which ensures the safety of the US food supply by effectively responding to and preventing contamination (US Food and Drug 1). Even though the recent act has been reforming food safety laws for over seventy years, the FDA found it plausible to demonstrate regulations against the labeling of GMO plants. The FDA collaborated with bioengineering companies and on November 19, 2015 approved the production of genetically modified salmon. Despite evidence demonstrating the potential harms of GMOs, the FDA has continued to process GMO foods such as salmon. In short order, the FDA also determined that labeling plants based on GMO or non-GMO would no longer be necessary. Reactions to both procedures performed by the FDA were inevitable. Wenona Hauter, executive director of the Food and Water Watch organization in Washington, D.C., said: "This unfortunate and historic decision ignores the vast majority of consumers, many independent scientists, numerous members of Congress and salmon farmers around the world, who have expressed strong opposition” (FDA approves 1). What Hauter said was extremely concerning to the health-conscious public, especially as what was once despised has now achieved acceptance around the world. The Center for Food Safety also immediately responded to the FDA's actions by announcing its intention to sue the FDA so that the administration would not be able to qualify the production of such salmon (FDA Approves 1 When both). the parties began to noticeably distance themselves from each other, it was evident that the two sides needed to reach some sort of mutual agreement. Both the Center for Food Safety and the Food and Drug Administration support a similar idea: ensuring food safety. However, the Center for Food Safety works to implement labeling of GMO foods, while the FDA colludes with food technology companies to do the opposite. The best approach to solving this issue would be to make sure both parties can feel comfortable about the labeling of GMO foods. The Center for Food Safety wants to see food labels that say “GMO” or “Non-GMO,” for health-conscious people who worry about what's in their foods. Because signs that say GMO in obscenely large letters can scare away consumers and those who don't care about their health, labels can be reduced to miniature size in a small corner of the nutrition facts. This way it is not clearly visible that this is a discrepancy for those on the FDA side who despise the idea of seeing the word "GMO" in large letters on all food products. Instead, only those who search whether their food is organic or not will be able to find the “GMO/Non-GMO” warning sign on food labels. Both the Center for Food Safety and the FDA should be adequately satisfied with this type of compromise. The first step in implementing this compromise would be to encourage markets to get started.
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