[B] GMOs: Groups petition US FDA to remove genetically
altered foods

March 22, 2000

By Charles H. Featherstone, Bridge News

Washington--Mar 21--A coalition of 54 consumer groups
announced Tuesday that it is formally requesting the US
Food and Drug Administration withdraw all genetically
modified foods from US grocery shelves pending the
approval of GMO foods through a rigorous environmental
and human health testing process.

* * *

"We are confident that the FDA will have no choice but to
meet our demands," Joseph Mendelson, legal director for
the Center for Food Safety, said. "This is not howling in
the wind. This is legal, this is scientific, this is what we
want."

In an over 60-page petition, the Center for Food Safety is
asking the FDA to use its existing legal authority to
remove all GMO crops from the US food market pending:

- --A thorough examination of the effects of genetically
modified fodd on human health, including the use of the
Cauliflower Mosaic virus to insert new DNA segments, and
the addition of antibiotic marker genes which allow
researchers to tell of the gene insertion has been success;

- --A complete environmental review of the potential for
"biological pollution" from transgenic crops which could
lead to herbicide resistant weeds and pests better able to
tolerate natural plant defenses;

- --Mandatory labeling requirement of all foods containing
0.01% or more GMO crop content once they have passed
the above tests.

"There is no legal choice that FDA can make but to label
these foods," Mendelson said.

Once the petition has been submitted, FDA has 180 days
to rule. An FDA source said the agency does not usually
comment on petition filings or rule-making. The source
said, however, that FDA would have to take any formal
petition "very seriously."

Later, Mendelson told reporters that a ban on GMO crops
would probably affect 60% to 70% of all processed foods.
However, if offered mandatory labeling without withdrawing
GMO foods or evaluating them for human and
environmental effects, Mendelson said the consumer
groups would likely reject it.

"Labeling alone is half a loaf," he said. "Not everyone
reads a label."

Mendelson said that the labeling of GMO foods would
"require a certain retooling" of US grain elevators,
warehouses and manufacturing plants similar to efforts
made by some companies to export "identity preserved"
corn and soybeans to Europe and Japan.

The Center for Food Safety is submitting the petition over
concern about the effects of GMO foods on human health
and the environment as well as concerns over what many
see as the domination of the global food industry by a
handful of life sciences corporations. End

Bridge News, Tel: (202)220-3729

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