[CH] OT: food labeling
Rael64 (raelsixty4@earthlink.net)
Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:35:08 -0700
Forgive Me, El Grande, Chefs/Cooks, and Whomever else I send this to, as I
must Sin:
(ahem...)
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FDA's Policy on Genetically Engineered Food: Don't Ask, Don't Tell!
FDA fails to require testing and labeling of gene-altered food despite
medical and scientific warnings
When you go shopping, you want to know what's in your food. You probably
avoid certain foods by checking labels.
But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a policy that keeps
genetic engineering a secret ingredient in your food! Under the policy,
Americans will still be eating untested genetically engineered (GE) foods
against their will, since the new rules don't require labeling or any
pre-market safety testing of gene altered crops.
Americans overwhelmingly support mandatory labels on GE food, yet FDA has
sided with the chemical companies that make GE foods over consumer and
environmental protection. FDA has ignored doctors and scientists who warn
that genetically engineered foods could trigger dangerous allergies, change
the nutritional value of foods, and cause irreversible harm to the
environment.
The new policy is outlined in two documents. One outlines non-binding
guidelines for "voluntary labeling" of GE food. These guidelines will deny
consumer choice, since food companies that use GE ingredients will not
label their products. Even worse, FDA is making it more difficult for food
producers who avoid GE food to label their non-GE products.
The other document is a proposed "notification" rule that would require
biotech companies to inform the agency before putting a new GE food on the
market. Yet this rule continues FDA's policy that fails to require any
safety testing of GE foods.
In Europe, Japan, Russia, Australia, South Korea and other countries,
genetically engineered foods must be labeled. It may not be long before
the U.S. is the only country that does not require labeling of GE food!
A new Greenpeace report, Genetically Engineered Food: Still Unlabeled and
Untested (150 KB pdf file), has found that only three health studies on
genetically engineered foods have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
None of these met scientists' recommendations that gene altered foods be
tested for 90 days, nor did they meet the FDA's own testing requirements
for food additives that would require, in some cases, up to two years
multiple feeding studies. The biotech company studies that FDA relies on
to assess new altered crops are generally not submitted for peer review and
not available for public scrutiny.
Last fall, Greenpeace released the True Food Shopping List, a detailed
report of thousands of foods made with genetically engineered ingredients.
"FDA has refused to require labels, so Greenpeace took action," said
Greenpeace campaigner Kimberly Wilson. "We labeled genetically engineered
food to give consumers a fighting chance when they go to the store."
Don't let FDA keep you in the dark about your food! Tell FDA that
consumers have a right to know what is in our food!
LINK: http://www.truefoodnow.org/bin/takeaction.pl?action_id=29
-------END SHAMELESS SPAM-LIKE MESSAGE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE-------
All threats, flames, und so weiter send to me off list, bitte...
Peace, Hendrix, Chiles, and may the next 4 years fly by w/o the destruction
of the environment.......
Rael64
Rael64
Monk of the TCS
Order of Immaculate Twister
In El Grande's Name...Left Foot Blue, Baby