The Journal

Scientist Defends Safety Of GM Foods

Scientists last night moved to reassure the public that genetically modified foods are safe after claims that the American government had carried out a massive cover-up and ignored scientific advice.

An American lawyer used yesterday's GM food safety conference of the OECD in Edinburgh to highlight his attempt to make the US Government clear the shelves of GM food, claiming it had not reached legal safety standards.

But last night the American Food and Drug Administration's [FDA] senior delegate at the conference said GM foods were as safe as other foods in supermarkets, and were subject to rigorous testing.

Dr James Maryanski of the FDA told the conference that new foods on the market were tested to make sure they were as safe as traditional foods.

American attorney Steven Druker said the FDA had ignored scientific advice from its own experts that there were concerns over the safety of GM foods.

Mr Druker said the FDA had illegally allowed GM food to be licensed wholesale in the US by bypassing its own standards of safety - and it had therefore been allowed into British markets without proper safety checks.

Dr Maryanski defended the FDA against the claims and said it was contesting the lawsuit vigorously.

He said: "In public meetings, we heard nothing to question the safety of food on sale."

His claims were backed by Peter Kearns of the OECD's health and safety department, who said: "The vast majority of OECD member countries have a system in place to assess the safety of these products, and I believe that system is working."

Greenpeace delegates had earlier launched a strong attack on genetically modified foods, saying the same assertions of safety were being made as had been for nuclear power 40 years ago.

Benedikt Haerlin of Greenpeace International said: "Billions have now been spent and even more billions will have to be spent in order to control the problems which have arisen from the introduction of nuclear energy.

"We are concerned the same problems are being created with genetic modification."

Earlier, conference organisers had been accused of being subtly biased towards the pro-GM agenda.

But an OECD spokesman rejected the claim by the Soil Association and said the £400,000 three-day conference featured delegates from both ends of the GM spectrum.

The same point was emphasised by Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam when she opened the conference.