Can Genetically Engineered Foods Compromise Social Equality?
Britt Bailey Both the volume and extent of genetically altered food crops newly introduced into our food supply ensures they will have an impact on society. New genetic sequences are often introduced into such food crops from disparate species assuring a de minimus deviation from conventional food products. Of necessity, when a genetically modified seed is able to replicate and carry its features on the next generation of consumers, it poses special ethical issues both now and in the future. The central public health and ethical questions center on whether engineered changes are sufficiently new enough to pose unanticipated health risks, and if so, do they impact differentially on varying members of the population. If genetically engineered foods differ significantly in terms of adverse health impacts, the skewed distribution could disproportionately burden vulnerable populations, exacerbating health gaps already created by differential access to health care and exposure to toxic subst
