Need Safeguards for Gene-Tinkered Foods

[SCHLOSSER at ciit.org]

I agree that safegaurds and testing would be prudent and should be
performed before these products are available for human consumption,
but some of the dire predictions made seem highly doubtful.

Just as organic growers proudly label their produce that way, I'm
sure that 'non-tinkered' growers will do the same, so that even if
it is not required that 'tinkered' produce be labeled, it will 
become quickly the case that anything not labelled 'non-tinkered'
will be assumed to be 'tinkered' - giving the consumers an informed
choice without the necessity of govnmt. regulation.  Market
competition will then determine what consumers want & will accept.

To take one example from Dr. Cummins' article, the switching gene
(promoters) from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) is being used in
a number of altered plants, and he is concerned that it will be
transfered to infecting viruses.  This concern ignores the fact
that CaMV exists in nature and that there is already plenty of
opportunity for such transfer to occur.  Dr. Cummins is also
concerned about transfer of genetic material between plants, with
the concern that something like wheat gluten, to which some
individuals are sensitive. 1: if gluten is the problem, then transfer
of other genes should not transfer the problem.  2: to use a term
applied by a previous commentator, *bio-tech* has been around a
long time and such transfers can be and have been obtained without
*gene-tech*, so that focusing only on *gene-tech* does not deal
completely with the issue.

There is big money behind getting these crops to market and it is
entirely possible that appropriate safegaurds are not being taken.
Great caution should be used.  But, I think that, with appropriate
caution, significant benefits can be achieved.  'Tinkered' does not
necessarily mean 'bad'.  To assume that dissaster will occur, or to
assume that 'there is no problem,' are equally irresponsible stands.

Paul Schlosser
Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology