On January 18, 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a further revision of its genetically engineered food policy revision. Despite the April 2000 legal petition filed by over 50 consumer advocacy and activist groups, including CRG, the FDA reaffirmed the 1992 policy. The newly revised policy does not require any mandatory pre-market safety testing for GE food. Instead of becoming more cautious, which some expected after the StarLink corn fiasco, the FDA has continued to insist that there are no health risks inherent in genetically engineered food. Instead, the FDA has ignored evidence to the contrary, and in fact the policy revision was worse than what was expected.

Labeling of food containing genetically engineered ingredients remains voluntary. While the new policy requires mandatory notice and consultation with the FDA before these products are released into the environment and the marketplace, safety tests are voluntary and are left up to the company. The “new” FDA policy is no different than the one that allowed StarLink corn, a GE variety classified as safe for animal feed only, to be mixed into corn that ended up on grocery shelves.

Moreover, testing of GE food by an independent monitoring organization is still not mandatory. Meanwhile, food additives and medications (including those approved and used in other countries) undergo two years of stringent testing and years of examination, while GMO’s are often released into the environment after half of the 90-day minimum tests recommended by scientists. Andrew Kimbrell, the Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety, called Americans “…guinea pigs testing the safety of these foods.”

Under the new policy, companies are now required to give the FDA four months’ notice before releasing new biotech products, and information (including possible allergic reactions) must be posted on the Internet during this four month period. However, the policy allows companies to keep information secret if the company feels the information involves trade secrets. Philip Clapp, President of the Environmental Trust, stated, “This policy is geared towards protecting industry, not consumers.”

In addition, the FDA also released a document covering voluntary labeling. In the past, organic manufactures have often marked their products as “GMO Free” or “Contains no GMO’s.” The FDA has decided that this is misleading to consumers, since “free” implies “zero” and because of contamination by pollen from modified crops, it is very difficult to insure that corn is in fact 100% free of genetically modified genes. According to The Campaign for Food Safety, it is more likely that the reason the FDA is discouraging GMO Free labeling is because “the biotech industry does not want to see GMO Free labels because they are afraid their products will look bad by comparison.”

Kimberly Wilson, formerly with CRG and now a Greenpeace Genetic Engineering Campaigner in San Francisco, called this “A terrible day for American consumers: the government has failed to protect their health and their interests. While the rest of the world is moving to label genetic foods, U.S. consumers are still denied free choice in the grocery store…. the FDA is working with industry to keep genetic engineering a secret ingredient.” Meanwhile, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a pro-biotech group, called the proposal “an obvious capitulation to anti-biotechnology agitators.”

You can read the FDA statement and dockets at: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2001/NEW00747.html