UK: Supermarkets cash in on unfounded fears about GMOs, aspartame, MSG

The following is an edited excerpt of a longer story. Find a link to the full story below.

We have all found ourselves standing in a supermarket aisle, struggling to choose between different versions of the same thing: Do I choose the product that is “free from artificial sweetener”? What about the one that “contains no GM” or is “paraben-free”?

But these are false choices: supermarkets are misinforming their customers about health risks. There is no scientific evidence to support rumours about adverse health effects from the flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG), or from foods containing material from plants that were genetically modified, or from the sweetener aspartame, or from parabens.

By marketing products as “free from” supermarkets are playing on people’s fears, which are based on the rumours that have circulated about these substances.Frustrated by this cynical marketing, a group of junior researchers that I coordinate (the Voice of Young Science network) wrote an open letter calling on supermarkets to stop misleading customers and review their negative claim policies.

Read the original article in its entirety here: Supermarkets cash in on unfounded fears about food and health

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