In January 2024, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report about the consumption of GMOs in food for young children. The purpose of the guidance is to help physicians navigate recommendations about GMOs to concerned parents. While the intent here is good (many people are confused about the relationship between GMOs and human health), AAP not only missed an opportunity to clear the air about the purported risks of GMOs for human health, but the organization also created a series of confusing recommendations that carry a risk of harm to befuddled pediatricians and parents.

Let’s first quickly review what was in the guidelines. Overall, the AAP agrees that there is no evidence of GMOs being harmful to human health. But they muddy the waters by raising concerns about glyphosate (better known as “Roundup”), a pesticide that is used on most genetically modified crops. Some GMO crops are genetically modified to be resistant to glyphosate. They purport that the chemical has “unknown” risks to human health and even point to the notion that it might be a carcinogen. The notion that glyphosate could be a carcinogen comes from the International Agency for........

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