Statement of U.S. PIRG Food Safety Advocate Richard Caplan
The Bush administration's
plans to challenge the European Union's oversight of genetically engineered
crop approvals at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is unfortunate and misguided.
Genetically engineered crops pose significant risk to human health and the environment,
and proper regulation of this new technology should include mandatory, comprehensive
pre-market evaluation. Any country demanding adequate safety testing should
be applauded, not attacked. Instead of using the WTO to pry open foreign markets
to genetically engineered crops, the U.S. should improve its own inadequate
regulatory system.
• No genetically engineered
crops should be on the market unless they have been rigorously and independently
evaluated and determined safe for human health and the environment.
• Any products judged safe must be clearly labeled because citizens have the
right to know if they are consuming genetically engineered products or crops.
• Liability for any unanticipated harm from the technology should be assumed
by the seed manufacturers.
• Any country that does not want to accept the risks associated with genetically
engineered crops, particularly while so many unknowns remain about the long-term
safety of the technology, should be allowed to do so.
The U.S. regulatory system
is wholly deficient. Mandatory safety testing to assess the human health safety
of genetically engineered crops is currently not required by the Food and Drug
Administration. Nearly ten years after food products of genetic engineering
first appeared on supermarket shelves, FDA proposed to mandate that biotech
manufacturers simply notify the agency when they bring a product to market.
Even this weak proposal has since been withdrawn.
With unwavering consistency,
U.S. consumers have made it clear that they want to know if food they purchase
at the grocery store has been genetically engineered or contains genetically
engineered ingredients. An elaborate series of focus groups conducted by the
Food and Drug Administration revealed that people were outraged when they realized
the extent to which genetically engineered ingredients had already permeated
processed foods without their knowledge or consent.
Consumers expect their government
to protect their interests, and rigorously examine new technologies for their
safety before they reach the market. The U.S. Regulatory system falls short
both on labeling and on safety testing genetically engineered crops and foods.
The U.S. Should not challenge any other country's approach to regulating this
technology that is more comprehensive than ours, but in fact should be working
to strengthen our weak system.
