Consumer Group Damns US Regulation of Genetically Altered Foods – (01-25-01)

Consumer Group Damns US Regulation of Genetically Altered Foods

Unfortunately, few people here in the US are aware of the term “genetically modified” when it comes to food. “So what??” would be many’s reply; however, it is a very real possibility that, by altering nature, we are creating proteins that our bodies have never seen before, setting up the stage for all kinds of new food allergies, sensitivities and diseases. This really can be quite serious…

(article) The US government, in its enthusiasm to speed genetically altered foods to the market, has forsaken its responsibility to regulate in the public interest and allows the companies that make and sell those products to decide their safety, a new report by the Consumer Federation of America concludes. “That system assumes that a company with a big investment in a new product can always be trusted to put the public interest first, and it assumes that one of those companies will never make a mistake,” CFA’s Carol Tucker Foreman said at a briefing held to release the report. The hands-off regulatory approach is hobbling US companies’ efforts to export their biotech products, the report contends. Both the European Union and Brazil, which are cited in the report, require mandatory review and labeling of all biotech foods, and have frowned on US imports because of what they view as lax regulation in this country. According to the report, worldwide sales of genetically modified foods grew an estimated $75 million in 1995, when the first commercial plantings occurred, to approximately $2.3 billion in 1999. More than 40 modified food plants have been marketed in the US for general use, most of them corn and soy products.