Article: U.S.-EU Panel Recommends Review, Labeling of Biotech Foods

19 December 2000

U.S.-EU Panel Recommends Review, Labeling of Biotech Foods

Report calls for greater precaution in approval process

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

Washington -- An advisory panel commissioned by President Clinton and European Commission President Romano Prodi recommends mandatory government inspection and labeling of foods made from genetically engineered crops.

The recommendations are contained in a 24-page report, released at the U.S.-European Union Summit meeting December 18 in Washington, that says the regulation of biotech food and feeds should be based on three overriding concepts:

A comprehensive and rigorous examination to ensure safety for human health and the environment;
Regulatory implementation through a process that is open, transparent and inclusive; and
A provision for public information so that consumers can make informed choices or decisions.

The report, prepared by the advisory U.S.-EU Biotechnology Consultative Forum, contains 23 recommendations that range from mandatory regulatory examination and food labeling to the role of precaution in decision making. It was prepared by a 20-member panel of well-known U.S. and European scientists, environmentalists, biotech industry representatives and farmers over a four-month period that began in September.

Key recommendations in the Biotechnology Forum's report include:

Mandatory pre-market testing by regulators of all genetically-engineered food and feed and approval for sale "only after they are found to meet the standard of presenting a reasonable certainty of no harm."
The concept of substantial equivalence, treating non-biotech food and biotech food similarly, should be improved by the development and application of new testing techniques.
Risk and benefit considerations should not be introduced in the regulatory process until a basic threshold of reasonable certainty of no harm to humans has been met.
Regulators should develop and implement a process to make it possible to trace all foods derived from genetic engineering.
When substantive uncertainties prevent accurate risk assessment of genetically engineered foods, regulators should "act protectively on the side of safety."
All regulatory processes governing the approval of genetically engineered foods should be open, transparent, and inclusive.
Social scientists, ethicists, representatives of non-governmental organizations and others should be included, along with scientists, in the process of assessing the risks of genetically engineered foods.
The United States and EU should establish content-based mandatory labeling requirements for finished products derived from biotechnology.
The United States and EU should pursue implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

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Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov