Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly

Abstract

Why do many consumers view genetically engineered foods with suspicion? I want to suggest that it is largely because the food industry has taught them to do so. Consumers learn from advertisements and labels that the foods they buy are all natural—even more natural than a baby’s smile. “The emphasis in recent years,” Food Processing magazine concludes, “has been on natural or nature-identical ingredients.” According to Food Product Design, “the desire for an all natural label extends even to pet food.” The term “junk science” has become a fixture of popular and journalistic parlance, with media accounts leaving the impression that junk science is pervasive and far-reaching. News stories and OpEds suggest that junk science is especially troublesome in the arena of environmental policy. We are told that an “epidemic of junk science is afflicting the courts,” that “scientific fraud is endemic,” that “federal agencies [are] running amok with junk science,” and that “the core of real science [has been] overwhelmed by a flurry of junk science.” One newspaper editorial asserted that “[t]here is a battle taking place in America today between real science and junk science. . . . ”