From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Sun Aug 29 1999 - 09:49:51 MDT
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0827-110.htm
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NFPA Tells Members to Ignore GE Foods Concerns, Says FoE
U.S. Newswire
27 Aug 12:48
NFPA Tells Members to Ignore Consumer Group Concerns Over Genetically
Engineered Foods, Says FoE
To: National Desk, Environment Reporter
Contact: Mark Whiteis-Helm of Friends of the Earth,
202-783-7400, ext. 102
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) Week reported today that the National Food
Processors Association (NFPA) is "advising its members to ignore
the efforts of advocate groups seeking to pinpoint and reduce the
use of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients." This announcement
comes in the wake of a Friends of the Earth (FoE) letter-writing
campaign directed at the CEOs of 83 prominent food companies
-- among them PepsiCo., Nabisco, Nestle, General Mills and
Kellogg -- inquiring whether or not any use potentially harmful
genetically modified Bt corn in of their products.
Friends of the Earth is concerned because a recent study conducted
by Cornell University published in the journal Nature found that corn
genetically engineered to include the Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt)
kills the larvae of the Monarch butterfly.
"NFPA is telling big food companies to thumb their nose at
consumer concerns," said Friends of the Earth President Dr. Brent
Blackwelder, "Food companies need to look at the facts of recent
scientific studies and not the profit-driven bias of the NFPA."
According to a Consumer Reports study published yesterday,
scientists at Iowa State University determined that "pollen from some
types of genetically modified corn can kill monarch larvae."
The FoE Letter was sent on August 6. To date, only one company --
UTZ Quality Foods Inc. -- has responded. UTZ, a maker of potato
chips and snack foods, acknowledges that it uses genetically
engineered ingredients in its foods. In their letter to FoE, they
stated "The FDA does not regard GE foods as any different from foods
processed through conventional means."
"The FDA is letting American consumers down," said Blackwelder.
"FoE and food safety advocates insist that the FDA is required by law
to examine GE foods because the are different. They can contain
genes from other species, have traits that do not occur naturally,
and are changed in ways that scientists say cannot be accurately
measured."
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