FDA Opens Floodgates to Gen2 Frankenfoods

The agency has released “guidance” to the biotech industry about how to get foods from gene-edited (GE) plants onto your dinner plate, doubling down on bad policies that treat GE foods the same as any other type of food—even though they are anything but. Action Alert!

THE TOPLINE

• A new FDA guidance doubles down on a decades-old policy that allows largely untested GE foods onto the market.
• In this broken system, a GE tomato is treated much the same as a regular tomato; the process used to create the tomato is irrelevant to the FDA.
• Given the development of GE technology and the influx of synbio products, we need to fight for additional scrutiny on these foods.

Does it matter to you how the food you eat and feed your family is produced? Most of us who care about our health or that of our loved ones, or know something about nutrition and molecular biology, would say “yes.” But, for the FDA, it doesn’t matter what’s happened to your food on its way to your dinner plate. That’s the thrust of the new guidance document released by the agency on foods from GE plants. All that matters to the FDA is the finished product. This means a GE tomato gets to be treated, in regulatory terms, exactly the same way as a regular tomato. No additional safety measures are necessary for GE fruits and vegetables because the process used to create them, says the FDA, is irrelevant. We have to push back against this short-sighted, unscientific, pro-industry stance taken by the federal government. Just think about the influx of synbio foods that are coming to market, thanks to the fact that the FDA has effectively said to industry that it’s ‘game on’ for GE foods, and you don’t need to worry about any additional safety hurdles or labeling.