House Report Kind to Biotech Foods

April 14, 2000

A new congressional study finds that agricultural biotechnology yields "seeds of opportunity" and are as safe for human consumption as foods produced from traditional plant varieties. The study received immediate support from agricultural and food industry interests.

The American Soybean Society says the report "reconfirms and reassures consumers that agricultural biotechnology is soundly tested and regulated (and) adds to a wide range of reports and studies that have looked in depth at biotechnology and found it to be safe for consumers and the environment and of great potential benefit."

Karil Kochenderfer, Grocery Manufacturers of America director of international trade and environmental affairs, said the recommendations and findings "clearly reflect longstanding scientific evaluations about the safety and the promise of food biotechnology." Too often, added Kochenderefer, the issue has been "the subject of fear mongering and misinformation."

The report, Seeds of Opportunity, concludes there is no significant differences between plant varieties created through biotechnology and similar plants grown from traditional crossbreeding. It recommends that regulations from USDA and proposed regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency targeting biotechnology products be changed to focus on the characteristics of a plant, not the process used to develop it.

In addition, the report concludes that plants and foods produced from biotechnology pose risks no greater than those for plants and foods produced form traditional methods. It addresses issues such as risks to the monarch butterfly, allergens, toxins, antibiotic resistance and "outcrossing."

Highlights of the report include:

–The promise of agricultural biotechnology is immense; advances will result in crops with a wide range of traits that will benefit farmers, consumers and the environment and increase global food production and quality.

–There is no evidence that transferring genes from unrelated organisms to plants poses unique risks; risks associated with plant varieties developed using biotechnology are the same as those from classic breeding methods; as new methods are more precise and allow for better characterization of the changes made, plant developers and food producers are in a better position to assess safety than when using classic breeding.

–The threat to pest-resistant crop varieties produced by biotechnology to the monarch butterfly and other non-target species has been overblown and probably is insignificant.

Among the report’s recommendations are that Congress ensure adequate funding levels for basic plant genomics research and that the administration work to ensure the markets for biotechnology products are not restricted by scientifically unsound measures. The United States should not accept any international agreements that violate the scientific principles and limit trade in, or mandate labeling of a plant or food product based on the method used to develop it.

The entire 88-page report is available on the Internet at http://www.house.gov/science/smithreport_041300.pdf It was released by the House Committee on Science Subcommittee on Basic Research.