Label without a cause : Nature Biotechnology : Nature Publishing Group
...The foremost problem is the potentially huge cost. Establishing and enforcing a labeling system for staple crops is not just about printing more detailed labels. GM and non-GM foods would need segregation from planting to plating, necessitating intense audits and constant policing to maintain the apartheid during harvesting, transportation, storage, processing and distribution. This is a much more daunting proposition than the USDA’s organic program which handles only ~4% of US foods. The cost of personnel and systems for certification/testing and compliance/enforcement was estimated by the state of Washington at $22.5 million annually, just for governmental supervision for its own territory; Oregon, with half Washington’s population, estimated $11.3 million. Extrapolated nationally, the price for government supervision of labeling could approach a billion dollars. Not to mention the much larger costs for the food and feed industries, and farmers.
Consumers, ultimately, pay the price. Some studies estimate a hike in retail food prices as high as 10%, not a disaster for those who already buy premium products to ‘avoid’ GM food at organic or ‘non-GMO’ supermarkets, but a budget-breaker for the large number of Americans struggling to meet weekly food bills.
Is there some value to consumers for all that outlay? Not really...
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