Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
How Are GMOs Regulated?
Usually when food processors add something “foreign” to
food, like a food additive, unless that additive is deemed to be
GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), it is regulated much like pesticides,
especially if it is a synthetic additive created in the lab. Before
it can be used to, say, color or preserve food, it must undergo a
series of rigorous tests to ensure it is safe.
Some believe that taking a gene from one organism and
inserting it into another is like adding a foreign substance, and
GM foods should undergo similar testing. This type of logic is
unworkable in actual regulation, though, because the DNA from
all life forms is composed of the same substance. Yet, because
genetic modification just seems riskier to many people, a GM
seed is not treated the same as a seed created through selec-
tive breeding or radiation-induced mutation. A complex system
of regulations has been constructed in the United States, where
GMOs are vetted by the Department of Agriculture to ensure
the crop is safe to grow, the Food and Drug Administration
to make sure the food is safe to eat, and the Environmental
Protection Agency to verify it will not harm the environment.
What follows are the most important features of those regula-
tions in regard to human health, particularly from the FDA.
It is easy to misrepresent how food safety is protected by
the FDA. The laws make clear that it is the company's respon-
sibility to ensure food safety, and it is the company's decision
whether to consult with the FDA to measure health risks from
a new GMO. This system makes it seem that GMOs are not
regulated at all, as some critics imply, but this grossly mis-
represents how companies actually interact with the FDA.
Sometimes there is little difference between a suggestion and
a command, especially when the suggestion is made by a
powerful government agency, and the FDA has made it clear
it wants to be consulted throughout the process of developing
any and all GM crops.
