LA Weekly | November 12, 1999 | By Kristin Fiore
Hey pal: Engineer this.
Are U.S. consumers ready to demand labeling of genetically modified foods on their grocery shelves? The September issue of Consumer Reports magazine found DNA-altered ingredients in taco chips, infant formula, veggie burgers and corn-muffin mix. DNA-modified food has long been an international controversy, but a hidden issue for many Americans, because unlike Europe and, soon, Japan, the U.S. does not require genetically engineered food to be earmarked for shoppers.
Since the Consumer Reports article, however, Hain Food Group Inc. decided to slap labels declaring its Little Bear line of natural snacks free of ingredients from genetically modified plants. Heinz told The Wall Street Journal that it "will seek to avoid" genetically modified crops in all its U.S. products. Worthington Foods Inc., which makes Morningstar Farms veggie burgers, swore off genetically modified soybeans.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced public hearings on the labeling issue. Last week, 50 members of Congress joined Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan in calling on the FDA to reverse its position and order labeling.
"He believes FDA policy regarding genetically modified foods is flawed," Bonior press secretary Fred Clark explained in a phone interview.
Genetic-engineering boosters, including the Grocery Manufacturers of America, dismiss labeling fever as the product of European-driven "hysteria."
"There's certainly no reason for consumers to be concerned," said Grocery Manufacturers of America spokesman Brian Sansoni. "A lot of misinformation and hype have come over from Europe. Certainly the food has proven to be safe." A pro-biotech-food Web site says labeling would have the "unintended and unfortunate consequence of misleading consumers into thinking that biotech products have different health effects."
While there is no direct evidence that genetically engineered food is unsafe, scientists have questioned whether tinkering could inadvertently increase natural toxins or decrease nutrients in foods. Allergic reactions are a worry; in the mid-1990s, pre-market screening of soybeans modified with the gene of a Brazil nut caused allergic reactions among volunteers who were allergic to Brazil nuts. The modified soy was never released, but there remains no screening system in place to keep an unanticipated allergen off the market. Groups including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace USA have raised a number of environmental questions, linked to reports that genetically modified corn may endanger the monarch butterfly.
Since the FDA decided against labeling in 1992, genetically engineered crops have spread across the U.S. They now represent more than 35 percent of all corn and almost 55 percent of all soybeans, according to 1999 industry estimates - in the forms of soy oil and corn syrup, common ingredients in a wide array of processed foods.
"What I'm hearing across the country from consumers, and not just organic consumers, is they really want to have the right to know if their food is genetically altered," said Debbie Ortman, national field organizer for the Organic Consumer Association of Duluth, Minnesota.
"I don't think the awareness about the extent of genetic modification is that high anywhere," added Steve Urow, Santa Monica-based Web designer for Organic Consumers.
The FDA hearings start Nov. 18 in Chicago; a third meeting is scheduled December 13 in Oakland. The FDA is taking written e-mail comments at www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets; messages must refer to "Docket No. 99N-4282." The deadline for comment is January 13.
