American College of Nutrition (ACN)(J. of the Am. College of Nutrition, June 2002)
The American College of Nutrition is committed to the worldwide availability of a safe, adequate and nutritious food supply.
Substantial valid scientific evidence exists establishing the safety of crops developed via biotechnology. Numerous national and international scientific and regulatory organizations have reviewed this evidence and concluded that crops developed via biotechnology pose no unique safety concerns compared to crops developed via traditional breeding.
Moreover, since the introduction seven years ago of foods containing ingredients from crops developed via biotechnology, these crops have been widely adopted by farmers worldwide, and have an established history of safe use in practice.
The American College of Nutrition recognizes the potential of biotechnology to improve the size and reliability of crop yields and encourages its use to develop crops that benefit countries of the developing world. Wherever possible, biotechnology should be applied responsibly to improve crops that enhance dietary diversity and thus the nutritional value of the diet for resource poor farmers and consumers who currently have a limited food supply. The College further supports the application of biotechnology to enhance the nutritional quality of foods.
Increasing the levels of desirable components and prolonging food freshness are valuable approaches to ensuring a nutritious and wholesome food supply. In addition, biotechnology offers the possibility of removing some anti-nutrients and allergens present in conventional crops and foods.
Moreover, the College recognizes that crops enhanced via biotechnology may benefit the environment by reducing reliance on agricultural chemicals and by enabling the use of more sustainable agricultural practices. Therefore, the College supports the use of biotechnology to develop food crops that contribute to global food security and enhance the safety and nutritional value of the food supply. At the same time, the College encourages the maintenance of wild-type genetic varieties and the biodiversity they provide.
Finally, the College supports the continued application of sound scientific principles to the evaluation of these products and encourages the nutritional science community to participate in scientifically based evaluations of food products. The College is committed to continuing surveillance of the scientific and safety data of individual products developed via crop biotechnology.
The American College of Nutrition is a not-for-profit society composed of over 1,200 professional nutritionists drawn from academia, practice, and industry, and committed to disseminating nutrition knowledge, fostering nutrition education, and encouraging continued research in the broad area of nutrition. According to Dr. Stanley Wallach, Executive Director of the College, "The College is releasing this statement at this time to coincide with publication of the June 2002 issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (JACN), which is devoted entirely to the subject of crop biotechnology." Wallach continued, "As the papers published in the supplement to JACN on this topic show, the technology is being applied in the US, Europe, Australia, Kenya and SE Asia to make foods more nutritious, more plentiful, and to reduce use of pesticides."
Contact information for Stanley Wallach, M.D., American College of Nutrition,
300 South Duncan Avenue, Ste. 225
Clearwater, Florida, 33755.
Tel. 727-446-6086
Fax 727-446-6202
email: office@am-coll-nutr.org
Abstracts of the scientific articles in JACN are available on the Web at: