NOTE: Since publication of this article, this information has been updated. Go to the updated document.

Over the past few months, we've seen an increase in public interest in the safety of food biotechnology both nationally and internationally. A review of the positions of key health, scientific and academic leaders provides compelling evidence of the safety and need for this evolving food production process.

Food biotechnology is not new. In fact, it is a process that is an extension of what farmers have been doing for many years with selective breeding to produce higher quality products. With traditional agricultural techniques, breeding plants to obtain a better product took many years to accomplish, and it was less exact. Food biotechnology offers a quicker, more precise solution to accomplishing the same goal—more nutritious and better tasting foods, less use of pesticides and foods that stay fresher longer. In short, food biotechnology offers tremendous benefits to the consumer—with no evidence of additional risk.

Numerous scientific experts, food and health organizations, and federal regulatory bodies support the safety of food biotechnology and products derived from biotechnology. Here's what these experts are saying about food biotechnology.

Foods from biotechnology are safe… According to the scientific community:

"It is the policy of the AMA to (1) endorse or implement programs that will convince the public and government officials that genetic manipulation is not inherently hazardous and that the health and economic benefits of recombinant DNA technology greatly exceed any risk posed to society; (2) where necessary, urge Congress and federal regulatory agencies to develop appropriate guidelines which will not impede the progress of agricultural biotechnology, yet will ensure that adequate safety precautions are enforced; (3) encourage and assist the state medical societies to coordinate programs which will educate physicians in recombinant DNA technology as it applies to public health, such that the physician may respond to patient query and concern; (4) encourage physicians, through the state medical societies, to be public spokespersons for those agricultural biotechnologies that will benefit public health; and (5) actively participate in the development of national programs to educate the public about the benefits of agricultural biotechnology."
(CSA Rep. D, A-90) American Medical Association Policy Position H-480.985 Biotechnology and the American Agricultural Industry.

"From the standpoint of the Food and Drug Administration, the important thing for consumers to know about these new foods is that they will be every bit as safe as the foods now on store shelves. All foods, whether traditionally bred or genetically engineered, must meet the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act."
FDA Consumer magazine article: "Genetic Engineering: Fast Forwarding to Future Foods" published April 1995 and revised February 1998.

"We have spent considerable amounts of time and resources examining the science of gene technology and how it would impact on the food supply and have concluded that, provided that companies take the proper steps to examine the important safety issues, these foods should be as safe as other foods on the market…In addition to those steps that breeders normally take, for products of gene technology, companies are doing far more extensive testing than has ever been done on commercial varieties. They are doing chemical analyses for important nutrients, for toxicants. They are examining the new substances, such as proteins that have been introduced into these foods, in terms of possible toxicity and allergenicity and taking other steps under the guidance of our scientists in the government to ensure proper adequate testing before they go to consumers."
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Biotechnology Coordinator James Maryanski, Ph.D., May 26, 1999, Worldnet interview.

"I have absolutely no anxiety…. I am worried about a lot of things, but not about modified food. To argue that you don't know what is going to occur is true about everything in life. People wouldn't get married, have children, do anything…."
James Watson, Ph.D., co-discoverer of DNA structure and Nobel Laureate, the Daily Telegraph of U.K. February 25, 1999.

"Biotechnology can be the most powerful promoter and mover of the health of this country and the health of American agriculture."
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman. July 13, 1999, The National Press Club, Washington, DC.

"The overwhelming scientific evidence argues against the supposition that DNA from transgenic plants will somehow contaminate bacteria in humans and animals and in some way cause mutations in people that eat foods from genetically modified plants. The concern approaches the ridiculous when critics propose that remnants of DNA that are found in soy meal or soy oil will cause harm in humans."
Roger N. Beachy, Ph.D., president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center on behalf of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. March 3, 1999, testimony before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Risk Management, Research and Specialty Crops.

Biotechnology offers benefits…
For consumers…

"It is the position of The American Dietetic Association that biotechnology techniques have the potential to be useful in enhancing the quality, nutritional value, and variety of food available for human consumption and in increasing the efficiency of food production, food processing, food distribution, and waste management."
Position statement adopted by The American Dietetic Association on October 18, 1992 and reaffirmed on September 9, 1994.

"Biotechnology provides new and powerful tools for research and for accelerating the development of new and better foods…The benefits of biotechnology are many and include providing resistance to crop pests to improve production and reduce chemical pesticide usage, thereby making major improvements in both food quality and nutrition."
Report from a joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) Expert Consultation on Biotechnology and Food Safety held Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 1996 in Rome.

"I believe (food biotechnology) has the potential to increase yield and increase quality in ways which have not been available to us before. We should not throw out the baby with the bath water."
Professor Chris Payne, chief executive of Horticultural Research International, a public sector research center. June 7, 1999 Washington Times.

"We can expect that the next generation of biotechnology crops will offer many new benefits in terms of added nutritional value, for example, through increased vitamin content or the elimination of food allergens. It is important that consumers are not denied the potential benefits of such developments."
Professor Ray Baker FRS, Chief Executive of the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, established in 1994 by Royal Charter as a public body principally funded through the Office of Science and Technology of the Department of Trade and Industry.

"The scope of improvements offered by genetic modification in the future is much wider and consumer benefits much more evident. However, concentrating exclusively on the safety and environmental impact of (biotechnology) crops in the UK and Europe may distract both the public and governments from giving the proper attention to benefits they could bring to developing and developed countries."
The UK-based Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1999 report.

"Agricultural biotechnology holds promise for a hungry and ecologically fragile world. The development of new crop varieties that offer increased yields, reduced inputs, and offer specialized traits that meet end-user needs is merely the starting point."
American Soybean Association Chief Executive Officer Stephen S. Censky speech. May 26, 1999, before the American Bar Association Biotech Roundtable.

For agricultural producers…

"Scientists are gaining the ability to insert genes that give biological defense against diseases and insects, thus reducing the need for chemical pesticides, and convey genetic traits that enable crops to better withstand drought conditions. With this powerful new genetic knowledge, scientists have the capability to pack large amounts of technology into a single seed."
Norman Borlaug, Ph.D., Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. July 31, 1997, testimony before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.

"American Agri-Women supports the development and incorporation of biotechnological tools into agricultural research and production. Reducing input costs, increasing crop yields, promoting integrated pest management and providing environmental protections to our natural resources, biotechnology will give the producer greater flexibility in making management decisions."
Policy Statement of American Agri-Women.

"…what everyone must understand is to maintain the productivity of agriculture, we must continue to improve the agricultural seeds that are used. We have been doing this for generations. We are now blessed through research and technology with new methods of actually speeding up the process of improving the seeds and the products we get from them… The most important thing we have to do is get the message out about the benefits of these (biotech) products."
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International and Environmental Scientific Affairs Melinda Kimble. May 26, 1999, Worldnet interview.

"More than a decade of safety evaluation and introduction of genetically engineered plants has provided evidence and assurance that the risks to the environment posed by genetically engineered plants are no different from those of plants genetically modified using other methods."
Conclusion of the Institute of Food Technologists.

For developing countries…

"Bioengineered crops - changing the nature of plants by adding or removing DNA - could improve food yields by up to 25 percent in the developing world and help feed the 3 billion people to be born over the next 30 years."
1997 World Bank and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) report by Roger Beachy, then of the Scripps Family Chair, Scripps Research Institute; Thomas Eisner, director of the Cornell Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology, Cornell University; Fred Gould, Reynolds Professor of Entomology, North Carolina State University; Robert Herdt, director of agricultural sciences, Rockefeller Foundation; Henry W. Kendall, J.S. Stratton Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Peter Raven, director Missouri Botanical Garden; Jozef S. Schell, director, Department of Genetic Principles of Plant Breeding, Max Planck Institut f¨ur Z¨uchtungsforschung; M.S. Swaminathan, UNESCO Professor of Ecotechnology.

"If imports like these (biotechnology crops) are regulated unnecessarily, the real losers will be the developing nations. Instead of reaping the benefits of decades of discovery and research, people from Africa and Southeast Asia will remain prisoners of outdated technology. Their countries could suffer greatly for years to come. It is crucial that they reject the propaganda of extremist groups before it is too late."
Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, in an August 26, 1998, New York Times editorial.