Polls find that most of the American public is skeptical of the safety of GMOs, or genetically modified organisms.

In an ABC News survey, 52 percent of people thought GMOs in the food system were unsafe and another 13 percent weren’t sure, with just around one-third of those questioned saying they believed GMOs were safe

One thing those surveyed did agree on: 93 percent thought the government should require foods that have GMOs in them to be labeled.

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But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not moved to require such labeling. To meet the public’s request for more knowledge about what they’re eating, The Non-GMO Project began offering its own verification seal.

To get the Non-GMO Verified Seal, the organization requires companies test all products likely to contain GMOs, and “after the test, we require rigorous traceability and segregation practices to be followed in order to ensure ingredient integrity through to the finished product.”

“We use an Action Threshold of 0.9%. This is in alignment with laws in the European Union (where any product containing more than 0.9% GMO must be labeled),” the Non-GMO Project’s website said. “Absence of all GMOs is the target for all Non-GMO Project Standard compliant products. Continuous improvement practices toward achieving this goal must be part of the Participant’s quality management systems.”


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The challenge with labeling products GMO free comes from the fact that testing methods are limited. There is always a contamination risk, according to the Project’s website.

“Unfortunately, ‘GMO free’ and similar claims are not legally or scientifically defensible due to limitations of testing methodology,” the website said. “In addition, the risk of contamination to seeds, crops, ingredients, and products is too high to reliably claim that a product is ‘GMO free.’ The Project’s claim offers a true statement acknowledging the reality of contamination risk, but assuring the shopper that the product in question is in compliance with the Project’s rigorous standard.”

Special: GMO Foods: Are We Unknowingly Poisoning Our Families?

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