GM food policy upheld

URL: http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nbt/journal/v18/n11/full/nbt1100_1128a.html

Nature, November 2000 Volume 18 Number 11 p 1128

Emma Dorey

                  At the end of October, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the US

                  District Court in Washington threw out a case filed by a coalition

                  of biotech activists, including the Alliance for Biointegrity,

                  against the federal government in 1998 (Nat. Biotechnol. 17,

                  746, 1999;MEDLINE). Referring to FDA's 1992 policy

                  statement on Foods Derived From New Plant Varieties, the

                  group demanded a revision of food safety laws whereby the

                  FDA impose mandatory safety testing and labeling. "Dismissal

                  of the case against the FDA is a huge victory for FDA and

                  consumers," says Michael Philips, BIO's executive director for

                  food and agriculture, "The summary dismissal of this case

                  upholds existing FDA policies based on a science-based

                  regulatory system for reviewing and labeling foods improved

                  through biotechnology."