Food Safety Network

Genetically Modified Crops and Foods: A Report of the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs

01.jan.01, ISB News Report, ISB News Report

There is no scientific justification for special labeling of genetically modified foods, as a class, and voluntary labeling is without value unless it is accompanied by focused consumer education.

01.jan.01, ISB News Report, ISB News Report
GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS AND FOODS: A REPORT OF THE AMA COUNCIL ON SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS
January 2001
ISB News Report
The American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs recently issued a summary report after reviewing the technology used to produce transgenic crops and examining the issues relevant to the utilization of transgenic crops and genetically modified foods, including the current regulatory framework, possible human health effects, potential environmental impacts, and other consumer-related issues.
The findings and recommendation of the Council were present on their Web site on December 12, 2000. ( http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/2036-3604.html ) The Council reviewed eleven reports issued over the last two years by various scientific and governmental bodies on selected aspects of genetically modified crops. Additionally, literature searches were conducted in the MEDLINE database and Lexis/Nexis GenMed library for relevant articles published between 1990 and September 2000. References containing information relevant to the safety, regulation, and environmental impact of transgenic crops and foods were examined further as well as additional references culled from the bibliographies of these pertinent references.
Findings
More than 40 transgenic crop varieties have been cleared through the federal review process with enhanced agronomic and/or nutritional characteristics or one or more features of pest protection (insect and viruses) and tolerance to herbicides. The most widely used transgenic pest-protected plants express insecticidal proteins derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Crops and foods produced using recombinant DNA techniques have been available for fewer than 10 years and no long-term effects have been detected to date. These foods are substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts.
Genetic engineering is capable of introducing allergens into recipient plants, but the overall risks of introducing an allergen into the food supply are believed to be similar to or less than that associated with conventional breeding methods. The risk of horizontal gene transfer from plants to environmental bacteria or from plant products consumed as food to gut microorganisms or human cells is generally acknowledged to be negligible, but one that cannot be completely discounted. Pest-resistance due to exposure to Bt-containing plants has not occurred to date, and harmful effects on nontarget organisms, which have been detected in the laboratory, have not been observed in the field. Nevertheless, these and other possible environmental effects remain areas of concern.
Conclusions
Federal regulatory oversight of agricultural biotechnology should be science-based. Methods to assure the safety of foods derived from GM crops should continue to be refined and improved. Although no untoward effects have been detected, the use of antibiotic markers that encode resistance to clinically important antibiotics should be avoided if possible. Genetic modification of plants could potentially lead to detrimental consequences to the environment. Therefore, a broad-based plan to study environmental issues should be instituted. There is no scientific justification for special labeling of genetically modified foods, as a class, and voluntary labeling is without value unless it is accompanied by focused consumer education. Government, industry, and the scientific and medical communities have a responsibility to educate the public and improve the availability of unbiased information on genetically modified crops and research activities.
Recommendations
Among the recommendations made by the Council are the following:
Federal regulatory oversight of agricultural biotechnology should continue to be science-based and guided by the characteristics of the plant, its intended use, and the environment into which it is to be introduced, not by the method used to produce it, in order to facilitate comprehensive, efficient regulatory review of new GM crops and foods. The AMA supports efforts for the systematic safety assessment of genetically modified foods and encourages:
(a) development and validation of additional techniques for the detection and/or assessment of unintended effects; (b) continued use of methods to detect substantive changes in nutrient or toxicant levels in GM foods as part of a substantial equivalence evaluation; (c) development and use of alternative transformation technologies to avoid utilization of antibiotic resistance markers that code for clinically relevant antibiotics, where feasible; and (d) that priority should be given to basic research in food allergenicity to support the development of improved methods for identifying potential allergens.
The AMA supports continued research into the potential consequences to the environment of GM crops including the: (a) assessment of the impacts of pest-protected crops on nontarget organisms compared to impacts of standard agricultural methods, through rigorous field evaluations; (b) assessment of gene flow and its potential consequences including key factors that regulate weed populations; rates at which pest resistance genes from the crop would be likely to spread among weed and wild populations; and the impact of novel resistance traits on weed abundance; (c) implementation of resistance management practices and continued monitoring of their effectiveness; and (d) development of monitoring programs to assess ecological impacts of pest-protected crops that may not be apparent from the results of field tests.
The AMA recognizes the many potential benefits offered by GM crops and foods, does not support a moratorium on planting genetically modified crops, and encourages ongoing research developments in food biotechnology. The AMA recognizes that the government, industry, and the scientific and medical communities have a responsibility to educate the public and improve the availability of unbiased information on genetically modified crops and of research activities.
The full report can be accessed at:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/2036-3604.html.