These policy recommendations are based on the technical evidence found by the Product Safety subcommittee. Following these policy recommendations, the technical evidence is presented in four separate reports.

The following points illustrate that further testing needs to be done on genetically engineered foods before they can be put on the market.

1. Genetically engineered foods can introduce new allergens into foods. A University of Nebraska study showed that these new allergens could be fatal to humans (www.geocities.com/Athens/1527/allergic.html).
2. The Federal Food and Drug Administration acknowledges that antibiotic resistance marker genes and their products are present in genetically engineered foods (www.vm.cfsan.fda.gov). Some studies have shown that these genes can cause antibiotic resistance in human stomach bacteria (www.psrast.org/antibMAFF.htm).
3. Historical precedent has already been set with regard to the danger of genetically engineered dietary substances. The case of toxic tryptophan in 1989 clearly demonstrates the risk of releasing untested genetically engineered products to the market (www.gen.ch/gentech/1997/Nov-Dec/.sg00120.html).
4. Europe’s concern about the safety of genetically engineered food has been shown from the European Union’s current strict testing guidelines and requirements for pre-market approval. Currently there are not any universal testing procedures (www.eufic.org/gb/food10/food104.htm).

Policy Recommendations for Further Testing:

Due to the fact that different countries employ different methods to test genetically engineered foods, it is this committee’s recommendation that we should establish a universal procedure. We recommend that pre-market approval be required on every new genetically engineered product. A separate international regulatory committee, as described by Subcommittee G’s policy recommendations, will establish testing and approval. The committee will consider these issues in their assessments:

1. The developer has to disclose all genes and antibiotic markers that were used in the genetic engineering.
2. If there are any significant differences between the nutritional and chemical make-up of a genetically engineered food compared to the non-genetically engineered food, then the manufacturer has to disclose these differences.
3. Tests must be done to determine the quantity of genetically engineered food consumed by the average person.
4. Considering the previous tests, further testing will be done to determine possible allergenicity, toxicity, and/or antibiotic resistance (if antibiotic resistance marker genes were used).

1. These tests should include feeding the genetically engineered food to animals and then doing tests on the animals to see if there were any effects from the food. The manufacturer of the product will have to pay for this test to be done.

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