Biotech sweet corn is safe, agriculture and biotechnology experts Dr. Bruce Chassy, Dr. Wayne Parrott and Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam said in response to questions raised recently in The Huffington Post.
“There is an abundance of scientific evidence and published research, as well as more than 15 years of experience of GE crops, that provide strong evidence of their safety,” said Dr. Chassy, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in an interview with Best Food Facts. “There is no credible scientific evidence that they cause allergies or that they would have any long-term health effects.” READ MORE »
Special CBI guest blogger, Dr. Wayne Parrott
Professor of Crop Science, University of Georgia
As a scientist I am pleased to hear President Obama stress the importance of innovation and science as drivers of the 21st century economy. However, the agencies his administration oversees are not singing the same tune. Excessive, outdated, unscientific, and prohibitively expensive regulatory policies at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) impede the development and commercialization of technologically advanced genetically modified (GM) foods that could provide benefits ranging from longer shelf life and improved nutrition to using fewer pesticides.
Although 14 years of data supports the health and environmental safety of these crops, overly complex and costly regulatory hurdles are restricting consumer access. The full deregulation of biotech alfalfa was a positive first step, but there needs to be more action to ensure a regulatory system that is efficient and science-based. Such a system could give the same safety level as the current system but at a fraction of the cost.
Therefore, I am pleased to be co-organizing a panel of scientists and policymakers at the 2011 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting. The panel, titled “GM Crop Regulations: Safety Net or Insurmountable Obstacle?” will discuss this important issue and ways to streamline the current regulatory system so that it is guided by scientific principles.
For more information, please click here or email Ariel Gruswitz at agruswitz@bio.org
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Biotech sweet corn is safe, agriculture and biotechnology experts Dr. Bruce Chassy, Dr. Wayne Parrott and Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam said in response to questions raised recently in The Huffington Post.