Article: OECD Reports Support Safety of Biotech Foods

16 June 2000

OECD Reports Support Safety of Biotech Foods

Series of reports are completed for G-8 meeting in July

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Two special reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) support claims that genetically modified (GM) foods are as safe for human consumption as other foods.

The reports, published on the Internet June 15 by the Paris-based OECD, were produced at the request of the Group of Eight (G-8), comprising the seven major industrialized countries plus Russia. The G-8 countries will hold their annual summit July 21-23 in Okinawa where biotechnology and food safety are expected to be major agenda items.

The countries that conducted the safety assessments of the first generation of genetically modified (GM) foods "are confident that those GM foods they have approved are as safe as other foods," said the OECD report, entitled "Report of the Task Force for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds." More than 40 different food varieties have been produced worldwide using genetic modification.

The OECD report stressed that there is an increasing need for universal standards for safety testing of GM foods because of the diverse methods used by countries currently employing and developing GM foods. Such standardized rules would help reduce duplication and confusion in testing methods, the report said.

The OECD is composed of 29 industrialized and emerging market countries in Europe, North America and Asia.

First generation of genetically engineered foods primarily targeted the production process to provide farmers with crops, such as corn [maize] and soybeans, that would be more resistant to pests.

Second generation GM foods currently under development respond to consumer demands for improved nutrition and health. These GM foods come from specialized crop varieties and industrial and environmental applications -- such as the newly developed "golden rice" that includes vitamin A aimed at fighting night blindness, which is quite common in developing nations.

"A major issue for the future is the development of strategies for managing the safety assessment of the 'next generation' of GM products," the OECD report said. These next generation GM foods will raise some additional food safety issues, the report said, because "some will involve more complicated modifications (with several genes) than the 'first generation' products."

"Although food safety assessment is based on sound science, there is a clear need for increased transparency and for safety assessors to communicate better with the public," the report said.

In the companion study -- "Report of the Working Group on Harmonization of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology" -- the OECD task force recommended greater regulatory harmonization. "This is the attempt to ensure that the information used in risk/safety assessments, as well as the methods used to assess safety, are as similar as possible between countries," the report said.

One challenge the regulatory task force cited in assessing the safety of genetically engineered organisms "is to transfer the knowledge obtained by those countries with experience in risk/safety assessment to all those who need it, including non-member countries."

The OECD has been active in establishing an information exchange that includes databases, the report said, to aid countries in better assessing the safety of GM foods. There has been some suggestion that further coordination of the regulation of risk/safety assessment is needed.

Currently there are 11 intergovernmental organizations that compose the Inter-Agency Network for Safety in Biotechnology (IANB) involved in safety assessment, the OECD report said. And, the OECD said it welcomes the work of specific United Nations-sponsored agencies that evaluate food safety.

The United States has encouraged the G-8 to look at existing regulatory mechanisms such as the U.N.-sponsored World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the related Codex Alimentarius Commission, before creating a new food safety panel in the OECD, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The OECD's Environment Policy Committee has proposed a major conference on the environmental aspects of biotechnology, the report said.

The OECD reports can be accessed at the OECD website on the Internet at http://www.oecd.org/subject/biotech/g8_docs.htm.