Health

The FDA on the Hot Seat Over Genetically Modified Food

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 31, 2002 / 8:40 AM EST / CBS

With bio-engineered crops now in about two-thirds of this nation's processed foods, there are growing questions about what the government is and is not doing to regulate them.

It was the Senate's first chance to ask the FDA where it was when environmental groups--and not the government---found a banned type of gene altered corn in taco shells. The most critical was Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, whose state grows millions of acres of biotech crops and badly needs consumer confidence.

"So I mean what does that do to our consumers, to have to say the FDA's not there and the EPA's not there and Agriculture's not there, but Friends of the Earth is there?" says Harkin, a Democrat. "What kind of regulatory scheme is that?"

But the FDA's food safety chief basically told the Senate, don't worry--that yes, there was a banned crop on the grocery shelf, but the FDA thinks it's safe to eat.

"We don't believe there are any reasons consumers should run and see their doctors simply because they ate the products," says Joseph Levitt of the FDA's Food Safety division.

If the government seems confused by taco shells, it is. One agency, the EPA, thinks a single type of gene altered corn, called StarLink might cause allergies. But the FDA and the biotech industry do not think StarLink poses that kind of risk.

Val Giddings, vice president of the Biotech Industry Organization, was asked if the taco shells containing gene altered corn could hurt a human being. "Not unless one gets stuck cross-wise in your throat," Giddings replied.

Part of this hearing focused on the labeling of foods either with gene modifications, or as some labels state already, "gene modified-free." The industry argues for voluntary labeling, while some senators want labels to be mandatory.

"Americans have consistently demanded the right to know what's in their food," says Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat.

Despite the confusion over the safety of StarLink corn, no one questions Kraft's decision to recall its taco shells. And the maker of StarLink corn, the Aventis Corporation, has pulled the seed off the market until the allergy question is resolved.