INDEPENDENT (London) / 4 May 2000 / By Mary Dejevsky in Washington
The United States has changed its procedures for the approval of new
genetically modified foods and crops in an attempt to fend off consumer
resistance at home and importers' resistance abroad.
The regulations, announced by the White House yesterday, close many of the
holes in current regulations but did not include the compulsory labelling
of GM products.
The monitoring of GM food had been shared by several agencies, including
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Agriculture and
the Environmental Protection Agency. Many products escaped scrutiny --
which well suited the biotech and food companies.
Companies are now required to submit detailed research results and
information on new GM products to the FDA. This had been voluntary.
The Department of Agriculture will oversee new tests to detect the
presence of GM ingredients in food. As much as 90 per cent of American
food contains at least traces of GM ingredients because of the widespread
use of soya-based additives in processed food. Half of US-grown soya, an
estimated one-third of maize, and a lesser proportion of potatoes are
genetically modified.
The FDA has been given six months to devise a system to label GM-free food
without suggesting that GM food is in any way unsafe. While allowing that
GM crops might turn out to have environmental drawbacks, the US has
insisted -- and continued to insist yesterday -- all GM food grown or sold
in the US is safe for human consumption.
US food producers' groups, which had resisted further regulation, said the
measureswould foster public confidence. Their views have been influenced
by the recent threat to farmers' livelihoods posed by the decision of some
major companies, including McDonald's, not to buy GM produce.
But the fact that the regulations do not stipulate compulsory labelling of
GM food was criticised by some groups, including the Union of Concerned
Scientists, which said it also feared there was insufficient monitoring of
the long-term health and environmental implications of GM food.
(posted without permission)
