GMW: Eat To Live: FDA sued over biotech foods

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GMW: Eat To Live: FDA sued over biotech foods

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Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:58:42 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

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Eat To Live: FDA sued over biotech foods

By Julia Watson

United Press International, June 9, 2006

http://www.upi.com/

 

LE BUGUE, France (UPI) -- It`s been a conversational curiosity, at the

very least, among consumers in Europe, Australia, Japan, and parts of

Africa, why Americans don`t seem the slightest bit interested in the

issue of the genetic engineering of some of their key crops. The nations

just mentioned have as little tolerance for biotech foods as legally

possible.

 

Now, however, American consumers may have to reflect upon their

complacency.

 

This week, the Center for Food Safety filed a lawsuit against the Food

and Drug Administration to force the government to establish mandatory

reviews of genetically engineered foods and to label them as

genetically modified if the foods are approved for consumption.

 

The dramatic action comes after six years of waiting without a response

from the FDA to a legal petition it lodged, along with over 50 consumer

and environmental groups, demanding that biotech food be more

meticulously regulated and labeled.

 

Why would the FDA -- so anxious to protect our health with advisories

on food fears from mercury in fish to the pasteurization of young raw

milk cheeses -- not want to take a rigorous look on our behalf at

industrial science's inalterable tampering with nature?

 

Even the U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General has been

appalled by the USDA's handling of field tests of genetically engineered

plantings.

 

As Eat To Live revealed earlier this year, the inspector general's

report condemned the USDA for failing to inspect experimental genetically

engineered crops and for not insuring they were destroyed after field

tests, to protect surrounding farmland.

 

The prime genetically modified crops grown extensively across the U.S.

are corn, soybeans and canola. Europe, pushed by massive consumer

unease, has made every effort to resist the entry of genetically

engineered

crops into its markets. Foods that contain them must be so labeled.

 

Yet Europe has been under intense pressure by the United States through

the World Trade Organization to reverse this stand and allow U.S.

biotech crops and products in.

 

Even the United Nations Cartagena Protocol of Biosafety authorizes

member countries, in the case of scientific uncertainty, to take a

precautionary approach to regulating biotech crops.

 

In the United States, no GM labeling is necessary, nor is testing of

foods containing biotech crops or by-products compulsory.

 

European consumers -- and many in the science community -- fear that

the restructuring of the genetic composition of a crop by introducing

foreign genes -- from other species of plant or even animals -- could

have

an impact on health. They fear so-called 'Frankenfoods' might encourage

antibiotic-resistant illnesses, produce new food toxins and generate

food allergies.

 

Farmers are attracted by the higher yields and lower investment in

pesticides and time that genetically engineered crops offer. Their

creators, like Monsanto, promote the philanthropic message that they

could be

the instrument for the reduction of world hunger and poverty. They

assert that rather than abuse the environment, genetically modified crops

make it safer.

 

Critics of biotech crops and food say that none of these contentions

have been properly tested nor have ecological, health and social

questions been stringently addressed.

 

Let's hope there`s enough publicity for the CFS's lawsuit to alert

American consumers finally to an issue that has been the concern of

much of

the rest of the world.

 

This barbecuing season, when timing everything to be on the table as

soon as the burgers come off the grill is tricky, you may like this tip

from legendary New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne.

 

He contended that the best way to cook (genetically unmodified) sweet

corn was to bring to the boil a pot of unsalted water, drop in the

shucked corn, slam the lid on, bring it back to the boil then immediately

turn off the heat under the pot. Leave the corn in for a minimum of 5

minutes -- and a relaxed maximum of 45. It`s a method that saves corn

that

isn`t at peak of freshness. Salting the water toughens it.

 

E-mail: consumerhealth

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

 

 

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