Gene-Altered Food Needs Labels, Safety Reviews, Committee Says

SARAH LUECK and SCOTT KILMAN / WALL STREET JOURNAL 19dec00

WASHINGTON -- A committee of international experts recommended safety reviews and mandatory labeling for genetically engineered foods, a move that could increase pressure on U.S. regulators as they wrestle with how to manage the new technology.

"Consumers should have the right of informed choice regarding the selection of what they want to consume," the committee's report concluded. The panel, called the U.S.-EU Biotechnology Consultative Forum, included representatives of consumer groups, academia and industry from the U.S. and the European Union, and released its report Monday at an EU-U.S. summit here. The panel was formed earlier this year at the request of President Clinton and European Commission president Romano Prodi.

The recommendations aren't binding and it isn't clear how President-elect George W. Bush and officials in his administration might view biotech foods. Some antibiotechnology groups hope the report will boost pressure on federal officials to tighten rules, especially following the recent recall of corn-food products containing StarLink corn, which hasn't been approved for human consumption.

"We're going into an administration that's not likely to be very sympathetic to the consumer perspective on biotech issues," said Margaret Mellon, director of the food and agriculture program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This puts regulation, particularly consumer-driven regulation, in a trade context."

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said several months ago that they will start requiring biotech companies to notify the agency before they market new products. The FDA, however, has yet to complete its requirements, and companies currently consult the agency voluntarily. But the FDA has stopped short of establishing mandatory food labeling.

In another move meant to ease tensions between the EU and U.S., DuPont Co.'s agricultural unit, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., said Monday that it has postponed selling to U.S. farmers six lines of genetically modified corn that aren't approved for consumption in Europe.

The six seed lines each contain two foreign genes that make the corn plant resistant to some insects as well as immune to the effects of a certain herbicide.