GMO from the perspective of Judaism

Abstract

The last decades have been a time of spectacular development of modern technologies, including those in the food production sector. As a result of the transfer of genes from one organism to another, it has become possible to create ever new varieties of genetically modified plants and animals. These achievements of modern science do not go unnoticed in religious circles, especially in the religious tradition of Judaism with its specific prohibitions on the consumption of certain products of plant and animal origin and the norms regulating the cultivation or preparation of food. Jewish law distinguishes the species of animals that Jews can eat, i.e. kosher ones, from those that they cannot eat, i.e. non-kosher (all plants are considered kosher). This environment also raises issues related to the cultivation and consumption of genetically modified plants and animals, including those with genetic material artificially transferred from other plants or animals considered in that tradition to be non-kosher. Although there is no consensus in Judaism, its mainstream tends to accept genetic technologies for altering organisms and the consumption of modified foods. Jewish decision-makers in the field of law and ethics base their mild stance on the general principle that anything not explicitly forbidden in the Bible and the Talmud is accepted as permitted.