CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY AND APPLIED NUTRITION (CFSAN)
Various aspects of the coexistence (see Part III, CFSAN) of genetically engineered (GE) (recombinant DNA) crops, organic production, and conventional agricultural systems have been considered by USDA's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology & 21st Century Agriculture (AC 21). A few reports include Impacts of Global Traceability and Labeling Requirements for Agricultural Biotechnology-Derived Products: Impacts and Implications for the U.S. and Opportunities and Challenges in Agricultural Biotechnology: The Decade Ahead, available by clicking here. These reports usually address difficult subjects where it is impossible to obtain agreement on every point or position. They therefore are described as "consensus" in nature.
The latest report, which repeats some of the same two themes of the prior reports, is entitled What Issues Should USDA Consider Regarding Coexistence Among Diverse Agricultural Systems in a Dynamic, Evolving, and Complex Marketplace? It addresses a number of factors that enable and inhibit coexistence. Those favoring it include the flexibility of the legal and regulatory framework to enable markets to develop without strict standards pertaining to level of acceptable adventitious presence (AP) and the ability of the growth and distribution infrastructure to accommodate both commodity and specialty crops. The most fundamental factor inhibiting coexistence is AP, which when found from GE plants in organic and identity-preserved conventional crops affects consumer choice, exports, causes market disruptions, and the erosion of confidence in all three agricultural systems.
After almost eight years of testing (see Part III, CFSAN), EPA recently announced that Cry9C protein was sufficiently removed from the human food supply. In response to the EPA notice, FDA withdrew its guidance on testing. See, e.g., EPA, EPA White Paper Regarding StarLink® Corn Dietary Exposure and Risk; Availability, 73 Fed. Reg. 22716 (2008) and HHS, FDA, Guidance for Industry on the Food and Drug Administration Recommendations for Sampling and Testing Yellow Corn and Dry-Milled Yellow Corn Shipments Intended for Human Food Use for Cry9C Protein Residues; Withdrawal of Guidance, 73 Fed. Reg. 22716 (2008).
CFSAN recently published a notice requesting comments on a new provision of the FDCA that prohibits the interstate movement of food to which approved and certain other drugs have been added. See Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007; Prohibition Against Food to Which Drugs or Biological Products Have Been Added; Request for Comments, 73 Fed. Reg. 43937. Although the new legislation is not directly aimed at PMPs, it could have regulatory effects in this respect.
Recently, Rep. D. Kucinich (D-Ohio) reintroduced three bills to regulate GMOs. These bills are nearly identical to those introduced in 2003. They are titled The Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, and The Genetically Engineered Farmer Protection Act. They would require mandatory labeling of foods containing or produced using transgenic material; a food safety review process and a screening mechanism to prevent contamination by pharma or industrial crops and that ensure food safety; and a legal scheme that places responsibility for liability on biotech companies and not farmers. It is doubtful this legislation is going anywhere, given that the current congressional session is coming to a close.
