Biotechnology Group Reaffirms Safety Pledge

October 4, 2000

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) says safety continues to be its members' highest priority and announced an expanded commitment to increase public understanding of agricultural biotechnology products and practices.

In the aftermath of the StarLink corn incident, where an unapproved genetically engineered corn variety was found in taco shells, the industry announced its support and commitment to "ensure that in the future U.S. commercial marketing of seeds improved through biotechnology and intended for the production of commodity grain, food and feed use, will occur only after fully meeting all U.S. regulatory requirements for both human and animal consumption."

BIO also pledged to continue to "support and work within the comprehensive and rigorous science-based regulations as required by the appropriate regulatory agencies, including USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

The statement added, "In addition, our industry endorses a mandatory pre-market notification process for FDA review of all biotechnology food and feed products." Also on the "commitment" list: to continue to work with the USDA and other interested parties to develop "clear and reliable detection methods and systems for grain"; increase efforts to share scientific information "in the spirit of transparency."

The statement concluded, "Our members will work diligently to advance these efforts, and to share our progress with the public, our industry partners, regulatory agencies and other interested parties. We believe that through these commitments, the biotechnology industry can help ensure that the enormous benefits brought by these products will be broadly realized."

BIO represents more than 900 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and more than 27 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health care, agricultural industrial and environmental biotechnology products.