[Special report part I] South Korea’s imports of #GMO food at an all time high Japan is the only country that imports more #GMOs than South Korea. Some agricultural experts suggest that, if only GMOs for human consumption are taken into consideration, South Korea could be the biggest importer in the world. Most of the GMOs that are imported into Japan are used not as ingredients for human food but rather in animal feed. South Korea has become one of the world’s top two importers of genetically modified food largely because it produces so little of its own cereal. Key statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs in 2013 show that only 23.6% of cereals used in South Korea are grown domestically. Domestic production is even lower for soybeans (10.3%) and corn (0.9%), two of the four major genetically modified crops. The South Korean dining table was long ago taken over by snacks, bread, and cooking oil produced from American soybeans and Brazilian corn created through human manipulation of DNA. Despite this, most consumers have no way of knowing whether the products that they are consuming contain GMOs. The importance of labeling genetically modified food is related to safety issues. Since genetically modified soybeans and corn began to be commercialized in the mid-1990s, controversy has raged about the safety of genetically modified foods. The debate between certain scholars who claim that GMOs can cause cancer, sterility, and allergies and GMO producers who dispute these claims has yet to reach a definite conclusion. The Korea Biosafety Clearing House (KBCH), a research institute supported by the state, is adopting a wait-and-see attitude. “Because of the short history of the development of GMOs, it cannot be said with certainty what results long-term consumption of GMOS could have on the human body,” the institute said. Read More: english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/674976.html
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 11:37:25 +0000