"The Food and Drug Administration is confident that the genetically engineered food products on the U.S. market today are as safe as their conventionally bred counterparts, and the agency is prepared to meet the safety and regulatory challenges presented by new products as they emerge from the laboratory," says Commissioner of Food and Drugs Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.
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EU Panel Deadlock May Augur Change in Biotech-Food Stance Wall Street Journal Scott Miller 12/9/2003 The European Union returned a split decision Monday in a pivotal case on whether to approve a new biotech food, both raising hopes for biotech proponents and underlining the difficulty of resolving an issue that has strained U.S.-EU trade relations. The deadlock, on an application to import a vareity of sweet corn, effectively transfers the issue to EU agriculture ministers who, in turn, are expected to pass the decision to the European Commission. more>

European Union Biotech Labeling Regulations a Barrier to Trade, Says GMA Grocery Manufacturers of America 11/25/2003 The Grocery Manufacturers of America, along with 21 other organizations, have sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick requesting that the U.S. government file a new World Trade Organization (WTO) case against the European Union's biotech traceability and labeling requirements. "WTO standards require that all members base their regulations on science," said GMA President and CEO C. Manly Molpus. "The EU has ignored this mandate by pursuing a biotech labeling scheme based instead on politics." more>

EU Theatrics Obscure Anti-Biotech Agenda The Wall Street Journal Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko 11/24/2003 “No one should be fooled by the EU's promises to lift the moratorium – or even by its doing so. These theatrics are a ruse to get the U.S. and other countries to end their WTO challenge to unscientific, antisocial EU policies,” said Henry Miller of the Hoover Institution and Gregory Conko of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. (subscription required) more>

EFSA Issues Opinions on New GM Maize
The European Food Safety Authority’s Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms concluded that a new variety of herbicide-tolerant biotech corn is as safe as conventional maize and is unlikely to have an adverse effect on human or animal health, or on the environment.

Genetically Modified Foods in Developing Countries
A task force appointed by the Danish Board of Technology urges all development aid organizations to assist developing countries in the task of building up the proper institutional capacity to make their own assessments of biotech crops. The authors cite the necessity of “ensuring support for research into genetically modified crops in the developing countries to a far larger extent than is currently the case.”
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Co-existence of GM and Non-GM Crops: Case Study of the UK
This report prepared by the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission finds that biotech crops can co-exist with conventional and organic crops in the UK without causing any economic or marketing problems.
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