PCC | Genetically Modified Food Crops: A consumer's perspective

Genetically Modified Food Crops

A consumer's perspective

Ask the people next to you what they know about genetically modified (GM) organisms and chances are they won't know much, if anything. Only about a quarter of Americans polled say they've eaten genetically engineered (GE) foods even though the Grocery Manufacturers of America says 70 to 80 percent of all processed foods sold in supermarkets contain genetically engineered ingredients — corn, soy, canola, cottonseed, papaya, squash, or sugar from sugar beets.

Americans are not aware that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not routinely testing GE foods for safety. According to a survey by the Pew Initiative, a nonprofit nonpartisan research project, 89 percent of Americans agree that "Companies should be required to submit safety data to the Food and Drug Administration for review and no genetically modified food product should be allowed on the market until the FDA determines it is safe."

FDA guidelines say GE foods must be thoroughly tested, but biotech corporations themselves determine whether their products are safe or whether they warrant analytical or toxicological tests. Even if companies acknowledge safety questions, "consultations" with the FDA are only voluntary.

If biotech companies volunteer to talk to the FDA, they must present only summaries of their data. Because the government protects corporate safety studies as trade secrets, the data isn't available.

Despite the fact that GE plants are different enough to be patented, the FDA does not review all GE products hitting the market.

There have been no long-term safety studies involving humans, and there's growing evidence that genetically engineered foods may pose a national health risk.

In 2004, a report by a committee of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine said regulators should scrutinize more critically the GE crop varieties that have greater levels of biological differences.

The scientific advisory panel also said U.S. government regulators should look more closely at the potential health risks of some GE plants before they can be grown as food. It says regulators should check for potential food safety problems after people eat the products. Read the entire report, Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects.

Here are reports from The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods to help understand this controversial topic. (Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat® to view these documents. Download this application if you don't already have it.)