Chicago Sun-Times | November 18, 1999 | BY JIM RITTER, SCIENCE REPORTER
The growing controversy over genetically engineered foods is expected to generate an overflow crowd today at a government hearing in Chicago.
The Food and Drug Administration is expecting 700 people. Those turned away from the Metcalfe Building, 77 W. Jackson, will have to watch on TV at the Chicago Marriott, 540 N. Michigan. At least 75 people have registered to speak.
"I would hope that this outpouring of public concern is a wake-up call to the agency that the American public is increasingly concerned about this," said Charles Margulis of Greenpeace.
Biotechnology companies have spliced foreign genes into corn, tomatoes, potatoes, soybeans and other crops used in hundreds of supermarket foods.
The genes improve the crops' hardiness by, for example, making corn poisonous to insect pests and soybeans resistant to herbicides. In the future, genetic engineering will improve foods' nutritional content. For example, a daffodil gene inserted in rice will boost vitamin A.
The anti-biotechnology movement has reached a fever pitch in Europe. But it was dormant in the United States until a laboratory study last May found that genetically engineered corn pollen might endanger monarch butterfly larvae.
Sustain, an environmental group, has organized a rally outside the federal building today that will include kids dressed up as butterflies. However there is no proof genetically engineered corn endangers monarchs in the wild.
Since the monarch study, Gerber has announced it will phase out genetically modified ingredients from baby food, where possible. And 19 congressmen have introduced legislation that would require labels on genetically engineered food. Co-sponsors include Representatives William Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
The FDA requires labeling only if genetic engineering changes the nutritional content of food or introduces an allergy-causing substance. But Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), one of the main sponsors of the labeling bill, said consumers have a right to know whether any food contains genetically engineered ingredients.
The food industry supports the FDA. Biotech opponents "want to clutter up the label," said Gene Grabowski of the Grocery Manufacturers of America. "The mission is to create confusion and misgivings among consumers so they can stop biotechnology."
Biotech opponents say genetic engineering could threaten food safety by, for example, introducing genes that produce toxic chemicals. Today, they will urge the FDA to require companies to test new genetically engineered foods on laboratory animals.
The FDA and industry say such tests aren't necessary. In the five years since genetically engineered foods have been on the market, there has been no evidence anyone has been hurt.
