|
|
 
|
It's time to regulate and label genetically engineered foods by Craig Winters
(Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 -- CropChoice guest commentary) --We've heard the news that soybeans in Nebraska have been contaminated
with genetically engineered pharmaceutical corn. Then, we
found out that the same company allowed pharmaceutical biotech corn to
pollute corn fields in Iowa.
Since this problem happened in September and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) is only telling us about it now, it makes us wonder
if other similar problems have happened that the USDA is hiding from the
public.
Why did the USDA announce the Iowa problem one day after the news about
the Nebraska problem was reported in newspapers all over the United
States? If news about the Nebraska contamination had not been discovered
by the media, do you think the USDA would be letting us know about the
Iowa contamination? I don't think so.
A Washington Post article reported that Cindy Smith, acting head of
biotechnology regulation for the USDA, indicated "the department may
consider revising its rules to lessen the chance of similar problems in
the future."
Well that's just great Cindy. And while you are at it, maybe you folks
at the USDA will wake up to the fact that organic corn fields are being
polluted by genetically engineered corn on a regular basis.
The bottom line is that if we don't stop all genetically engineered corn
from being grown we will soon not have any organic corn that is not
contaminated with biotech DNA.
Do we have to wait until biotech drugs are discovered in corn flakes
before our government agencies start regulating these risky crops in an
appropriate manner?
At the very least the U.S. government should require that these biotech
foods are labeled. And labeling is just one important step in
effectively regulating genetically engineered crops.
Hopefully these latest reports of contamination will serve as a wake up
call to the public, the media and the politicians. Genetically
engineered foods pose many dangers to human health and the environment.
Without effective regulation, a biotech version of Three Mile Island or
Chernobyl is likely to develop in the coming years.
| |
