In recent years, domestic public opinion has been puzzled by one issue. As the largest producer of GM crops, does the American public eat GM foods? The various rhetoric surrounding this issue leaves consumers at a loss. "Science News" after extensive data collection and interviews, found that Americans are indeed eating large amounts of genetically modified foods. For most people, people are generally unaware of the special nature of genetically modified foods. At the same time, the United States, as a large and diversified country, naturally has some environmental protection organizations and communities that resist genetically modified foods. However, this boycott must not affect the public to a great extent, nor should it allow GM foods to be eliminated on their own tables. "Because for most Americans, they don't care whether there are genetically modified foods," said Bruce Lewenstein, professor of science communications at Cornell University. Consumption discrimination Huang Dazhao, a former researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a number of experts pointed out on different occasions that, from a global perspective, genetically modified foods have long been used. This is no exception in China. Genetically modified foods are rigorously managed and rigorously evaluated and can be eaten with confidence. “Some people say that in the North American market there are 3,000 genetically modified foods. Its main ingredient is genetically modified soybeans and corn, so it is also a genetically modified food, and it has been eaten by hundreds of millions of people for more than ten years.†Huang Dazhao was at a People's Daily Said in the interview. But this statement has recently been refuted by some opposition to GM. A blog post with a high rate of reprint on the Internet lists many figures, trying to show that Americans do not have large-scale consumption of genetically modified foods. Taking corn as an example, the paper points out that according to U.S. official statistics, the proportion of corn consumed in the United States is about 10.5% of the total consumption, and the proportion of direct consumption is less than 2.5%. According to the author of this article, "U.S.'s own food consumption is minimal." However, if we make an estimate based on the data provided in this article, we will find that the number of Americans eating GM foods is really a lot. According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2010, the U.S. corn production was 319 million tons, 2.7% of the direct food consumption was 7.97 million tons, and the U.S. population was about 300 million. This way, the per capita amount of corn consumed per person per year is about It is 26.5 kilograms, which is almost a month and a half for the Chinese people. Such a large amount of food is because corn is one of the staple foods of the Americans, and supermarkets sell corn flakes, popcorn, and sweet corn. About 85% of US corn is genetically modified corn, which means that Americans directly eat 22.5 kg of genetically modified corn each year. Because of the proximity of Mexico to areas such as California and Texas, residents have the habit of eating corn directly in their meals. This means that the number of genetically modified corn eaten directly by residents in these places each year may be at least a hundred pounds. In the United States, because genetically modified products do not require identification, it is difficult for consumers to buy directly consumed non-GM corn products. More importantly, the majority of Americans' consumption of corn is reflected in the addition of corn to various foods. The proportion of deep processing of food is about 8%, which is nearly 25 million tons. This figure, on a per capita basis, probably reaches 100 kilograms per person per year. Of course, corn is processed into ingredients and additives many times. This 100 kg will not be eaten directly. But genetically engineered corn processed into ingredients and additives has been applied to an extremely wide food chain, so much so that one theory says that in the United States, more than 65% of foods contain genetically modified ingredients. From this point of view, it is not inappropriate to say that “a few hundred million people have eaten for more than ten years†and “a large amount of food†has been expressed. Soybeans are also "crazy" In 2008, the United States produced about 80 million tons of soybeans, of which 34 million tons were used for export; the United States itself used about 29 million tons for food purposes, mainly for the production of soybean oil. About 3.5 million tons are directly used for human consumption. The aforementioned net writes: “In the 2008/09 agricultural year, in the United States, the total amount of soybeans consumed each year is 3.5 million tons, and the US population is 320 million. What is the average person who eats the food each year? How much food is consumed per person per day? Look at that figure. Not mass food?" However, based on these figures, the average person in the United States eats 20 kilos of soybeans per year. Americans do not eat tofu, so this consumption is not small, and there is no statistics on soybeans as part of the deep-processed food ingredients. In 2008, total soybean oil production in the United States was approximately 73 million tons, while consumption was slightly lower than 12%; of these 12% of total consumption, direct consumption was about 70%. The amount of soybean oil that Americans directly consume each year is about 6.13 million tons, which is calculated based on 300 million people, which means that the consumption is 20 kilograms per person per year. In 2009, the United States planted 93% of genetically modified soybeans. Unidentified transgenes are difficult to distinguish, so this is equivalent to 18 kilograms of genetically modified soybean oil consumed annually in the United States. The per capita supply of soybean oil in China is 3.6 kilograms per year. In China, many people still drink less than 18 kilograms a year. Of course, 93% of this area is planted, and it is not converted into a production ratio. If converted to yield, the ratio should also be slightly higher due to slightly higher yields of genetically modified soybeans. Another set of figures also shows the same fact that the U.S. vegetable oil consumption is dominated by soybean oil, which accounts for 77%, and its per capita annual supply in 2007 was 22.4 kilograms. It is worth mentioning that, whether it is genetically modified corn or genetically modified soybeans, the genes currently transferred have no relationship with their food traits. The transgenic corn is mainly transferred to the Bt gene of corn borer, and the transgenic soybean is mainly used for the most widely used The gene for roundup herbicides, both of which are mainly aimed at improving economic traits of crops. Some articles questioning Americans' consumption of GM point to the inability to equate production scale with consumption scale. The percentage of genetically modified foods that Americans use to eat directly is not high compared to their production scale. However, given its large agricultural production capacity, even a very low percentage can lead to high per capita consumption. If you add GM crops that are used as food ingredients, this is a huge number. As mentioned above, if GM corn is considered for use in the production of various food products, then the U.S. per capita consumption will reach more than 100 kilograms per year. The above is merely taking into account GM corn and genetically modified soybeans, and other GM products that are consumed in large quantities in the United States, such as rapeseed oil and sugar beets, have not yet been introduced. American rapeseed oil is 84% ​​dependent on oilseeds imported from Canada to crush oil. In Canada, the proportion of GM rapeseed promotion in 2009 has reached 93%, and 66% of American rapeseed oil is used for food consumption. More than half of the sugar supply in the United States comes from sugar beets. About 95% of sugar beets in the United States are genetically modified. The average sugar intake of Americans is almost eight times that of Chinese per capita intake. It is worth mentioning that currently, transgenic sugar cane has been planted and is rapidly expanding. Since the listing of genetically modified foods in 1994, especially since the introduction of genetically modified soybeans in 1996, the average amount of genetically modified corn and genetically modified soybeans that the United States has directly consumed has reached hundreds of pounds. No need to identify The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has pointed out in the labeling guide for food companies that food companies can choose voluntarily if there is no difference in nutrients and there is no need to indicate whether they are from GM crops or non-GM crops on food labels. In the same guideline, FDA also proposed that “non-genetically modified foods†should not be deliberately labeled as such labels would mislead consumers and allow consumers to distinguish between genetically modified foods and non-genetically modified foods and label “non-genetically modified foodsâ€. Manufacturers will therefore profit unfairly. Under this kind of stipulation, most American food manufacturers naturally will not deliberately label GM, and most consumers are also accustomed to this. “In the United States, everyone is consuming genetically modified foods every day and will not think much about it,†said Scott Rozelle, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of California, Davis, who told Science News. Sometimes, some manufacturers will also cater to the psychology of consumers and label such products as “naturalâ€, such as EXTRA-VIRGIN, but this marking is not in contradiction with the FDA regulatory requirements and is not at a level because There is no strict legal term to define what is "natural." In 2010, when I attended the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held in San Diego, California, I met an environmental protection organization outside the venue to request the prohibition or labeling of genetically modified products. About 20 protesters gathered outside the San Diego Convention Center, which hosted the annual conference. One of them was giving a heated speech. More than 20,000 scientists from all over the world attending the annual meeting, as well as passers-by residents and tourists, seemed to have no feeling for this protest. They all passed in a hurry. In only 20 minutes, there were only a few more. Visitors stop to listen and no one asks for information except for the purpose of the interview. In spite of this, U.S. managers still pay much attention to communicating with the people. At a special forum of the new AAAS annual meeting held in Washington, DC, in February this year, the United States Agriculture Minister Thomas A. Vilsack repeatedly stressed that it is between those who support agricultural biotechnology and those who oppose this technology. To conduct dialogue on an equal footing, we must continue to spread the advantages of agricultural biotechnology. We must also pay close attention to its possible negative effects. “We want parents to educate their children so that they also have a comprehensive knowledge of agricultural science and technology to help them make the right choice.†Vilsack said. 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