shifting responsibility

In a world where personal responsibility is increasingly sidelined, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has added another layer.

Vilsack suggested to Congress yesterday that consumers worried about the genetically-altered food they were buying could simply look it up on their smart phones and thus save purveyors of goods from listing such ingredients on their boxes or cellophane wrappers.

The Food and Drug Administration handles most food-package labeling, so Vilsack's idea isn't an official proposal. But the agriculture secretary suggested it could head off the debate between the food industry and those who have pushed for package labels that identify GMOs.

What is it that encourages individuals and industries to avoid standing behind what they produce and to provide the evidence?