GMOs are not potentially unhealthy. Anyone citing the rat cancer study is a fraud. See: skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2215/…

@JonathanReez How about you read my whole answer? It is not about one study at all, it is about our mindset. We don't need any studies, mainly because we don't need GM food at all.

@JonathanReez until you can proof that out of all GMOs there is none that has any effect on any out of all organisms that is worse for health than a non GMO, GMOs are "potentially unhealthy". This is what potentially means. The risk might be low, but then there is no shortage on food in the EU. The point is, there is nothing to gain from allowing GMOs for a politician (unless you count bribes from the food industry) and a lot too lose (votes).

@Josef anyone with a basic understanding of how our stomach works (namely, it's a huge vat of acid) can also understand that there is no such thing as a "hidden food threat". Either the GMO food contains a dangerous chemical or it doesn't - and it's relatively easy to check if it does. End of story.

@Josef as for whether or not we "need" GMOs - we could also get by without a lot of efficient farming practices and still do okay, given that the EU subsidizes every food produced in Europe. This doesn't means we shouldn't try and improve our farming tools.

@JonathanReez so you would be willing to guarantee with all your personal belongings that there never will be any danger in any given GMO product which is higher than in an non GMO product?

@Josef I would guarantee you can decide whether or not any food item is safe to eat using modern laboratory techniques. You do realize that it's possible to breed poisonous strains using traditional selection methods as well?

@JonathanReez the point is there is nothing to gain from allowing GMO for a normal citizen but there is something to lose. So no point allowing it.

@Josef yes there is: cheaper food. Why waste resources on inefficient practices?

@JonathanReez as me and other people already told you: Food is cheap and plenty in the EU. Your personal disagreement doesn't change the facts.

@Josef You do realize that it's only cheap and plenty because of the thousands upon thousands of incremental improvements implemented into practice over the last 10 thousand years? Using GMOs is just one small improvement in the process, not an end all solution. My disagreement might not change the way the EU works, but it doesn't mean that the EU is not wrong and antiscientific.

@JonathanReez reintroducing slave labour would also decrease food prices. That's not a good reason to do it.

@Josef That's an an absurdum argument and you know it.

The problem with GMOs are not health problems. That's just science-phobia. The problem with GMOs ist that they enable monocultures which are ecologically unsustainable. You don't want to do it like in the USA where the whole agriculture sector is controlled by a company like Monsanto which sells both the weedkiller which kills absolutely everything and the seeds for plants genetically modified to survive the weedkiller.