Type of Publication: Report
Author(s): GMO Free Florida
URL: https://gmofreeflorida.org/health-surveys-2/
Abstract:
Background:
Genetically modified (GM) foods and crops are a controversial subject. There is controversy in many regards including the safety of GM foods, whether the current regulations are sufficient, whether or not GM foods should be labeled, if people are willing to consume GM foods and if there should be a moratorium on GM foods and/or crops.
Purpose:
To determine the consensus of opinion among individual health professionals and health students, between the years 2009-2019, on safety, regulation, labeling, willingness to eat GM foods and their beliefs about a moratorium on GM foods and/or crops.
Data Sources and Selection:
Electronic literature systematic search using Google Scholar and Google search engines. Manual reference checks of all articles related to surveys of health professionals from around the world, with regards to their opinions on GM foods and crops.
Data Extraction:
28 relevant surveys of health professionals and health students were found regarding opinions about GM food safety between the years 2009 to 2019. These surveys represented health professionals from 8 different countries.
12 relevant surveys of health professionals and health students were found regarding opinions about GM food labeling between the years 2009 to 2019. These surveys represented health professionals from 4 different countries.
19 relevant surveys of health professionals and health students were found regarding opinions about willingness to consume GM food between the years 2009 to 2019. These surveys represented health professionals from 7 different countries.
10 relevant surveys of health professionals and health students were found regarding opinions about support for GM food and crop production between the years 2009 to 2019. These surveys represented health professionals from 4 different countries.
5 relevant surveys of health professionals and health students were found, between the years 2009 to 2019, regarding opinions about the regulatory process or agencies that regulate GM foods and crops. These surveys represented health professionals from 3 different countries.
Results:
In at least 92.9% of surveys about GM food safety the majority of health professionals and health students either believe GM foods have health risks, or are neutral or unsure about the safety of GM foods.
In 100% of surveys about GM food labeling the majority of health professionals and health students believe GM food products should be labeled.
In 89.5% of surveys about the willingness to consume GM foods the majority of health professionals and health students were unwilling or unsure about consuming GM foods, or would choose non-GMO foods over GM foods.
In at least 80% of surveys the majority of health professionals and health students either do not support GM foods and/or GM crop production in their respective countries, or are unsure.
In 100% of surveys the majority of health professionals and health students either do not believe the regulatory process is adequate for GM foods and/or crops or were unsure about the adequacy.
Conclusion:
The results of this systematic review indicate that the common claim that there is a consensus among health professionals that GM foods are as safe and healthy as their conventional counterparts is not supported by the available evidence. Based on the results of this systematic review a clear consensus among individual health professionals emerged. The consensus among health experts is that GM foods currently on the market cannot presently be considered as safe as their conventional counterparts. This is either due to lack of evidence of safety, or because of a consensus in the scientific literature from animal studies that at least some GM foods currently on the market may be unsafe compared to their conventional counterparts. Surveys indicated that health professionals and health students surveyed do not generally support GM foods or their production and are generally unwilling to consume, or unsure about consuming, GM foods. Health professionals surveyed do, however, overwhelmingly support mandatory labeling of GM foods and better regulations for GM foods. Further surveys of individual health professionals from around the world are necessary as the search results of this systematic review only identified surveys of health professionals from 8 countries.
However, these results are also supported by a systematic review of statements by health groups regarding their opinions on GM food safety (GMO Free Florida 2022). A systematic review of the scientific evidence also supports this consensus since in the majority of relevant animal feeding studies using the popular GM soy GTS 40-3-2 adverse effects or biomarkers indicative of adverse effects were reported (GMO Free Florida 2022b). Health groups also overwhelmingly support mandatory labeling of GM foods and better regulations for GM foods. There is also general support for a moratorium on at least some GMOs which is consistent with this systematic review of surveys regarding the opinions of individual health professionals (GMO Free Florida 2022).
Based on the evidence from systematic reviews, we call upon the health community, who are the experts on health, to continue to inform the public of the potential harms from GM foods and to choose non-GMO and organic foods to avoid those potential harms. We urge the governments of the world to impose a moratorium on all GM foods until each GM food has been demonstrated as safe in independent long-term and multigenerational chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity studies using both rodents and non-rodents comparable to humans. We also call upon all who have published papers claiming that there is a consensus that all GM foods on the market are safe to provide corrections, or formally retract their papers if necessary. Our systematic reviews indicate this claim is not supported by the consensus, nor does it appear this claim was ever supported by the consensus.
A precautionary approach should be taken especially since there is now a consensus among health groups and individual health professionals that GM foods currently on the market cannot be considered as safe as their conventional counterparts at this present time, and a consensus in the scientific literature that some GM foods currently on the market may be unsafe compared to their conventional counterparts.
