| October 9, 2000
ALBANY, N.Y. (Hearst News Service) - Most foods, from
fruit to meat to wheat germ, are loaded with DNA. It is
the stuff of life, and the stuff of technology that has
brought genetically engineered foods to the dinner
table.
Unlike checking for fat or sodium content, consumers
can't tell from a label if a food contains genetically
altered ingredients.
The possibly unauthorized presence of genetically
engineered corn in store-bought taco shells recently
raised consumer awareness about whether the food we eat
is genetically manipulated - and whether we should care.
Kraft Foods two weeks ago voluntarily recalled Taco
Bell Home Originals taco shells after an environmental
group said that they contained a genetically engineered
corn approved only for livestock. The corn contains
bacteria - Bacillus thuringienis - that produce a
protein that acts as a pesticide.
For advocacy groups, the alarm has been sounded.
"Unless the federal government and corporations
employ safety and environmental testing - mandatory
safety and environmental testing - labeling so people
know what they're eating and corporate liability for any
harm, genetically engineered food should not be on the
market," said Larry Bohlen, of Friends of the
Earth, part of the Genetically Engineered Food Alert
coalition. In late September the coalition released the
test results on the taco shells, triggering the recall.
A Cornell University food safety expert said,
depending on definition, almost all foods could end up
labeled as genetically engineered, which would inform no
one.
Biotechnology also offers potential benefits, such as
developing more nutritious foods to ward off starvation
and disease.
The possibilities of genetic engineering are
comparable to another technology that has become a
modern-day convenience: electricity. Electricity carries
risk, but "we don't throw away electricity, we try
to make it better," said Joseph H. Hotchkiss,
Cornell University professor of food safety and
technology.
In reality, the marketplace holds a wide variety of
foods that have been genetically engineered - that, is,
holding a gene transferred from one organism to another
to improve disease-resistance, yield, nutritional value
or taste. Think of genetic engineering as the
super-fast, specific version of conventional breeding,
which has allowed, for instance, the average 1,200-pound
cow to produce almost three times more milk than it
would have 30 years ago.
According to information provided by The Alliance for
Better Foods, with members like the American Dietetic
Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation,
biotechnology varieties last year accounted for 55
percent of soybean crops and 36 percent of corn crops
produced in the United States.
Sweet, seedless mini-peppers, high-oleic peanut and
sunflower products and disease-resistant potatoes are on
store shelves. Consumer Reports last fall reported the
presence of genetically engineered ingredients in common
products like Ovaltine, Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and three
brands of powdered infant formula.
Shoppers did not know then, nor would they know now,
which products in their grocery cart contain genetically
altered ingredients.
"The challenge from the retail point of view is,
we don't know if products contain any bioengineered
ingredients," said Joanne R. Gage, vice president
of consumer and marketing services at Price Chopper.
"Our company has adopted a policy to support the
labeling of bioengineered food just so consumers can
know and make a choice, so we have a way of
knowing."
Gage added: "The real question is, how much
should they be regulated?"
In fact, the Food and Drug Administration does
regulate foods derived from biotechnology; under the
rules, companies due to market a product are asked to
consult with the FDA, and labeling is required if
biotechnology significantly alters the composition or
nutritional value of the food.
The FDA plans to revamp those rules, making it
mandatory for companies to notify the FDA of newly
developed products 120 days before marketing. Labeling,
to indicate which foods include genetically engineered
ingredients, would be voluntary.
(The FDA said it is conducting an investigation of
the possible presence of the modified corn in the
recalled taco shells, but a spokesperson was unavailable
to discuss in detail the agency's approach to
bioengineered foods.)
Bohlen, of Friends of the Earth, called the proposed
rules a "let's-have-lunch-with-industry
policy." and the planned voluntary labeling
"misguided, because so many people want
labeling."
Hotchkiss, of Cornell, worries more about zealous
rule-making than health effects at present. Derivatives
of soy, a major U.S. crop, are used to make oil, soy
milk and products like vegetarian burgers. Oil is
extracted without DNA-rich protein, which would burn in
cooking.
"Soy bean oil is used to make salad dressing,
mayonnaise, it's added to hundreds of products. If you
define it that way, we could get up into hundreds of
products. On the other hand, if you put a much more
narrow definition, that you have to consume the
genetically modified DNA, then the number of products
that contain the genetically modified protein would be
much smaller."
Copyright 2000 Hearst News Service. All rights
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