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FDA PUBLIC HEARING ON BIOTECHNOLOGY
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
DECEMBER 13, 1999
My name is Elisa Odabashian. I represent Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. Consumers Union has long maintained that consumers have a right to know what goes into the foods they're buying and eating. We urge the FDA to require both safety testing and labeling on genetically engineered foods.
While, to date, there has been little scientific evidence that genetically engineered foods presently on the market are unsafe, this does not mean that the FDA and industry can say, with impunity, that biotech foods are absolutely safe. There is still much to be learned about the long-term impact of genetically modified foods on human health and the environment. A good example of this is the use of synthetic bovine growth hormone, or rbGH, in the production of milk, on which human health tests have never been done. Not only does the drug cause numerous health problems to cows, thereby requiring intense use of antibiotics which can lead to increased resistance in farm-borne bacteria that affect humans, but a number of international scientific bodies have called for further research on the impact of rbGH on humans, and the drug is banned in Canada and the European Union.
The recent demonstration in Seattle at the World Trade Organization meeting is a searing example of how it never pays to keep information from the public, nor to turn a deaf ear to consumers' expressed desires. An unwillingness by government and industry to label genetically engineered foods is borne of fear, not of confidence-fear that if consumers were fully informed, that they would draw incorrect conclusions, and spend their money on products not containing GE-modified organisms. In a democracy, it is fundamentally not the place of government or industry to dictate what information consumers should or should not be given, or to determine in advance how consumers will interpret that information. The only way to inspire consumer confidence in genetically engineered foods is through full disclosure--in other words, through mandatory labeling. Then the onus is on industry, with the backing of the scientific community and government as new information comes in, to further educate the public about GE foods in order to cement that confidence.
