Mar. 25 2000 / AP / KATHERINE RIZZO
WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Democratic congressman Dennis Eckart, who spent
12 years on Capitol Hill representing Ohio's northeast corner, is, according
to this story, in charge of convening sometimes-opposing experts to
advise the U.S. Agriculture Department on gene-splicing policy.
The story says that at the request of Secretary Dan Glickman, Eckart is
heading a 38-member committee that will begin meeting Wednesday.
In an interview, Eckart was quoted as saying he wants the committee to bring
"some order to the chaos of governmental decision-making" on an emotional
issue.
That begins with being able to say with authority how much genetically
engineered food is produced in America, what the benefits from the
gene-splicing have been and what risks are posed to people and the
environment.
Eckart was quoted as saying that, "The USDA can't even tell me how much of
it is planted -- how many acres, how many crops, how many products, what's
the market. I had more 'that was a very good question' than I had very good
answers."
The biggest areas of debate involve how to test and label genetically
modified foods, though Eckart also wants the group to look at ethical
questions arising from science's growing ability to mingle genes from one
species with another.
Charles Margulis, a genetic engineering specialist with Greenpeace was
quoted as saying, "The secretary has given this group quite a huge, broad
mandate and no real power to do anything. To a large degree this is the
agency trying to buy time -- time for the industry, which thinks that if
they can keep the foods on the market for a couple of years ... people will
get used to it."
Steven Druker of the Alliance for Bio-Integrity was quoted as saying, "The
government has an agenda, it appears, to promote biotechnology at any
cost."
Consumer advocate Carol Tucker Foreman was cited as saying she thinks the
USDA panel, of which she will be a member, has the potential to make great
strides. If Glickman was merely stalling for the industry, she said, "there
are a lot easier ways for him to go about it."
Michael W. Yost, chairman of the American Soybean Association, said from his
farm in Murdock, Minn. was quoted as saying, "I hope that we can come to
some consensus that this is technology that is beneficial to society. I'm
not a scientist but I've talked to a ton of them that are very comfortable
with the technology that's out there. I'd like to know where other people
feel the big holes are."
L. Val Giddings, vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Association,
was cited as saying the committee offered the opportunity for countering
what he described as "a major misinformation campaign mounted by the protest
industry," adding that a full and unbiased examination of biotech food
development will show "the benefits far outweigh the risks."
(posted without permission)
