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CONTACT: Mark Whiteis-Helm
202 -783-7400 x102
August 30, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOP FOOD COMPANIES
IGNORE CONSUMER GROUP CONCERNS OVER GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INGREDIENTS
National Food Processors Association
Advises Members to Ignore the Efforts of Advocacy Groups
Washington, DC-Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) Week reported on Friday 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 letter-writing campaign
directed at the CEOs of 100 prominent food companies--among them
PepsiCo., Nabisco, Nestle, General Mills and Kellogg-inquiring
whether or not they use potentially harmful genetically modified
Bt corn in any 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) toxin kills the larvae of the
Monarch butterfly.
"NFPA is telling big food companies
to thumb their nose at consumer and environmental 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
they 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."
--end--
- Back
to Safer Food, Safer Farms Index | See the Letter we Sent | See
the list of Companies
- The
companies' response | Read the list of Potential GE Food
Ingredients | Action
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