Labeling should be mandatory

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.