Friday, September 29, 2000
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Kraft Foods' taco-shell recall won't prove to be the tide-turning cataclysm
that some biotechnology foes have hoped for, not by a long shot.
Yes, the shells contained traces of corn meal from StarLink, a genetically
engineered variety that hasn't been approved for human consumption. But it
seems only remotely possible that anyone will suffer harm from eating the
shells.
In fact, it's far from certain that anyone would be sickened by a plateful
of StarLink corn. Experts differ on whether a protein in StarLink could
cause allergic reactions or digestive problems in people who eat it. That
the corn has been banned from human foods until proven safe actually speaks
well of federal rules on genetically manipulated crops.
Nevertheless, the taco recall is uncomfortably close to a worst-case
scenario about GM foods -- that allergens or other truly harmful
substances, added to foods by design or by accident, could find their way
into the human gut.
Even if StarLink proves utterly harmless, it is disturbing to consider that
nobody -- from farmers to grain dealers to millers to Kraft -- can yet
explain how it got mixed into corn meal meant for taco shells. More
alarming is that the tests which detected its presence were administered
not by any of these companies, nor by government inspectors, but by a
private company working for the Genetically Engineered Food Alert, a
volunteer coalition of biotech skeptics and foes.
Naturally Aventis Corp., which makes StarLink, and some biotech industry
groups were quick to challenge the coalition's tests; they dropped that
stance like a hot burrito when Kraft's own tests confirmed the findings.
And now that Kraft is calling for more government action to assure the
safety of biotech foods, the industry associations are muting their usual
opposition. Say what they will about the safety of GM foods or the hysteria
of GM foes, a nationwide recall on a $50 million-a-year food brand tends to
influence philosophies of government oversight.
Kraft favors a more aggressive federal policy on testing GM foods and
assuring their purity, including a requirement that developers of new crops
also provide an easy-to-use test for identifying GM material in food
products. Because grain handlers claim it's not possible to fully segregate
one type of corn from all others, Kraft also is suggesting that the feds
ban the planting of any food crop not certified safe for humans.
That a major food company should propose such steps, and win at least
tentative endorsement from industry groups, says two interesting things
about the current state of federal oversight.
First, the food industry is coming to realize that growing public unease
about GM crops demands something more than companies' assurances about
their safety. Second, it's rather remarkable that better safeguards weren't
already in place.
The biotech revolution in food is at least as promising as it is
threatening. But the federal preference for voluntary self-regulation by
the companies has not only proved inadequate, it is inviting needlessly
harsh restriction that could cripple new initiatives.
By doing too little, federal regulators have invited political pressure for
them to now do too much. Those pressures will only be intensified by the
taco-shell recall, and its clear demonstration that nothing in the current
system prevents StarLink-style mishaps that, alas, could easily be much worse.
