In 2000, Dreamland was one of the first places where the alarm was sounded on genetically engineered foods. Since then, the genfoods industry has used its vast wealth to turn back any and all attempts to enforce labeling. So the question is still relevant: how do we tell the difference between genfoods and ordinary foods in the grocery store aisle?
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After two years of review, the FDA has decided that there is no need for American companies to label genfoods, and that testing for allergic response and toxicity is unnecessary.
This means that genetically engineered food products are free to enter the American food chain without restraint or restriction. Stringent European rules are exactly the opposite, requiring both testing and labeling. As a result, consumers can tell which foods are genetically altered in Europe, and avoid them. As a result, genfoods are all but impossible to sell there.
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Scientists have announced that genetically engineered wheat, barley and rice could be commercially available within the next 3 years. James Cook, wheat scientist for Washington State University, said Monsanto’s Roundup Ready wheat, used to control weeds, could be available to farmers by 2003. It would join corn, soybeans and cotton, which have already been genetically engineered into specialized versions.
Cook has promised that the wheat industry will not repeat the mistakes made with StarLink corn. Instead, the genes inserted into the food products will receive FDA approval for human consumption first, so that no real effort need be made by the industry to prevent them from spreading far and wide.
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The Toronto Star has reported that the StarLink genetically engineered corn could cost the food industry billions of dollars. The pollution of regular strains of corn by StarLink will lead to dozens of lawsuits. “This is going to come back to haunt the regulators and the food industry,” said Don Westfall, vice-president of Promar International, a Washington, DC consulting firm.
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