Sunday, March 26, 2000
Former congressman referees on gene splicing
Vigorous debate over altered foods
BY KATHERINE RIZZO
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — On one side are enthusiastic farmers growing insect-resistant crops and biotechnology companies that sell genetically modified seeds.
On the other are suspicious environmentalists, allergy sufferers and consumer watchdogs who fear harm to ecosystems and food supplies.
In the middle: a former Ohio congressman.
Dennis Eckart, who spent 12 years on Capitol Hill representing Ohio's northeast corner, is in charge of convening sometimes opposing experts to advise the Agriculture Department on gene-splicing policy.
At the request of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Mr. Eckart is heading a 38-member committee.
In an interview, he said he wants the committee to bring “some order to the chaos of governmental decision-making” on an emotional issue.
That begins with being able to say with authority how much genetically engineered food is produced in America, what the benefits from the gene-splicing have been and what risks are posed to people and the environment.
“The USDA can't even tell me how much of it is planted — how many acres, how many crops, how many products, what's the market,” Mr. Eckart said, adding that as he began his homework for the unpaid job, “I had more "that was a very good question' than I had very good answers.”
The biggest areas of debate involve how to test and label genetically modified foods, though Mr. Eckart also wants the group to look at ethical questions that arise from science's growing ability to mingle genes from one species with another.
Some outside critics say they won't be surprised if nothing comes of the Eckart-led effort.
“The secretary has given this group quite a huge, broad mandate and no real power to do anything,” said Charles Margulis, a genetic engineering specialist with the environmental group Greenpeace.
“To a large degree this is the agency trying to buy time — time for the industry, which thinks that if they can keep the foods on the market for a couple of years ... people will get used to it.”
“The government has an agenda, it appears, to promote biotechnology at any cost,” agreed Steven Druker of the Alliance for Bio-Integrity.
Consumer advocate Carol Tucker Foreman thinks the USDA panel, of which she'll be a member, has the potential to make great strides. If Mr. Glickman was merely stalling for the industry, she said, “there are a lot easier ways for him to go about it.”
Another complication is the way the government divides authority over food safety, which is mostly in the hands of the Food and Drug Administration. USDA has authority only over meat, poultry and eggs, but Ms. Foreman doesn't see that limiting the committee's influence.
“If this broad-based group of people were to say we need a better regulatory system, I think it would be very hard for FDA to ignore that,” she said.
“How can you not have credibility when you have one of everything sitting at the table?” said Ms. Foreman, head of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America and former assistant secretary of agriculture.
Another committee member sees the endeavor as a way to educate a public that has unfounded fears.
“I hope that we can come to some consensus that this is technology that is beneficial to society,” Michael W. Yost, chairman of the American Soybean Association, said from his farm in Murdock, Minn.
“I'm not a scientist, but I've talked to a ton of them that are very comfortable with the technology that's out there,” he said. “I'd like to know where other people feel the big holes are.”
L. Val Giddings, vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Association, said the committee offered the opportunity for countering what he described as “a major misinformation campaign mounted by the protest industry.”
A full and unbiased examination of biotech food development will show “the benefits far outweigh the risks,” he said.
The industry is able to point to estimates that a third of the corn, half the cotton and half the soybeans grown in America last year were biotech products, and to promising research into infusing rice with extra vitamin A to combat childhood blindness in developing countries.
Critics are able to point to a study that raised questions about whether genes intended to make corn insect-resistant also harmed butterflies, and to experiments in New Zealand that were intended to grow bigger salmon. They got Chinook able to reach 550 pounds, but also got some fish with lumps on their heads due to apparent genetic deformities.
“There's a lot of strong feeling on both sides,” said Ian Sheldon, an agricultural economist who heads Ohio State University's Genetically Modified Organisms Committee. “I think a lot of scare stories are being put out, (and) the scientific community doesn't really know how to put this to the public.”
“Even if these foods are safe, consumers don't necessarily believe them, especially in the European Union, where they have had so many food scares,” he said. “I don't think it's good for science to say, "It's good, eat them and shut up.'”
Committee member E. Bruce McEvoy, chief executive officer of Seald Sweet Growers Inc., said those in the food industry are well aware that consumer confidence is not to be taken lightly.
“If there's findings that come up that tell us we should have extreme caution, then that's what we must do. Just keep the politicians out of it,” he said, referring to a mandatory labeling bill introduced in Congress by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.
“When there are so many diverse views it's hard to make progress,” Mr. McEvoy added. “It's going to take one heck of a powerful chairman.”
ON THE NET:
•
USDA: www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/
•
Alliance for Better Foods: www.betterfoods.org
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