Korean food makers have decided to import a total of 1.2 million tons of genetically modified corn by the end of this year, including the 57,000 tons they imported on May 1. Until now, food producers have used unmodified corn as key ingredients to make starch and starch sugar, which are used to create the sweet flavors in cookies and soft drinks. But from now on, they are going to use GMO corn. As a result, supermarket shelves will be piled high with products such as cookies, bread, soft drinks and ice cream that contain primary ingredients made from GMO crops, which are still controversial for their safety. This is something parents are extremely concerned about. Environmental groups said they will boycott products made by food makers using GMO crops.

Food makers have little choice but to expand imports of GMO corn. Prices of regular corn, 99 percent of which Korea imports, have risen threefold over the past two years, from US$150 to $450 (US$1=W1,012) per ton and they are also hard to come by nowadays. Since they were developed in 1996, GMO crops have yet to show problems. Around the world, 23 countries cultivate GMO crops. A total of 21 different crops and 107 different items have received government approval in various countries. Out of total global output, 67 percent of beans are genetically modified versions, while 25 percent of corn is GMO. Since we brought in GMO corn for animal feed back in 1996, Korean food makers use GMO corn and beans to make soy sauce and bean curd. But there have been no reports of problems from consumers.

The problem is that our food safety rules do not require makers to clearly label whether a product has been made using GMO crops. They are only required to specify the five major ingredients on labels, creating instances where the use of GMO crops is not specified. And for processed food products such as cookies, soft drinks, soy sauce and cooking oil, there is no requirement to specify usage of GMO crops on labels. They say this is because heating during the process of purifying starch sugar destroys DNA, making it impossible to detect GMO ingredients.

But in Europe, food makers are required to specify the use of GMO crops on all food products. Like Korea, Japan has no regulation requiring food makers to specify the use of GMO crops in making cookies, soy sauce and other products, but most of them voluntarily make this information known.

Consumers have the right to know whether GMO crops were used in the food they eat. It is also the right of consumers to decide whether they will or will not buy food products made using GMO crops. It would be advisable for the government to ease worries by requiring the specification of GMO crops in the labels of food products. If not, GMO fears may spread like wildfire, and in the wrong direction -- just the way it happened with American beef amid fears of mad cow disease.