Challenges of Consumer Rights in Genetically Modified Food from a Health, Ethical and Legal Perspective

The risk of starvation and the increasing number of hungry people around the world has increased due to the world's population growth and lack of food and supplies. Climate change, in addition to global population growth, has affected food shortages. As a result, food security is at risk. Therefore, challenges has been paid to Genetically Modified Crops and Genetically Modified Food. The aim of this study was to investigate the health, legal and ethical challenges of transgenic food consumers.

This paper is a narrative review; the search was done on articles and books in Persian and English, published and indexed in PubMed ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, SID, IranMedex, and Magiran databases. This search was carried out individually and in combination, with no time limit in published and indexed articles and books until the end of 2021, and after retrieval, they were reviewed and analyzed.

In this narrative review study, the health, ethical and legal challenges of GM food to consumer rights were examined to show how a balance can be struck between the right to food and the right to health and food security.

The Non-Maleficent Ethical Rule requires that governments closely monitor producers of GM crops and foods in order to ensure food security and prevent producers from abusing their rights. Therefore, the production of GM crops and foods should not cause harm to the consumer and the environment around him. In addition, the consumer must be aware of the presence of GM foods in order to exercise his or her choice right.