Scientific Panel Calls For Stronger Controls On Biotechnology

Environmental Defense today applauded a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report urging that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promptly make final regulations for crops genetically engineered to produce pesticidal substances. EPA proposed regulations for so-called “plant-pesticides” in 1994, but the agency has failed to finalize them.

“Genetically engineered pesticidal crops may pose a number of ecological and health risks,” said Environmental Defense senior scientist Rebecca Goldburg, who is a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel that drafted the report. “Research published last May indicated that pollen from corn genetically engineered to produce insecticidal Bt toxins may kill monarch butterflies. The NAS report makes clear that such risks merit careful evaluation by government regulators, and in some cases urges federal agencies to do a more thorough job than they are now doing.”

“Last summer about 80 million acres of US farmland were planted in genetically engineered crops,” said Goldburg. “Yet EPA still does not have regulations for oversight of such crops. This short-sighted approach fails to protect the long-term public interest.”

The NAS report, “Genetically Modified Pest-Protected Plants: Science and Regulation,” focuses on the risks, benefits, and regulation of such crops, and is available at http://national-academies.org on the web.

The report recommends EPA finalize the regulations and adopt several measures to make them more comprehensive, for example by rescinding a proposed exemption from regulation for certain crops engineered to resist viruses.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) also have a hand in regulating genetically engineered crops. The NAS report recommends that both EPA and FDA take steps to improve the science underlying agency decisions concerning the safety of foods derived from genetically engineered crops. Similarly, the report recommends that USDA be more willing to require companies to gather original data in support of agency decisions, rather than simply relying on already published information.