Washington, DC
December 10, 2008
Source: United States
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
GAO-09-60, a report to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry, U.S. Senate
What GAO found
Unauthorized releases of GE crops into food, animal feed, or the
environment beyond farm fields have occurred, and it is likely
that such incidents will occur again. While there is no evidence
that the six known releases into the food or feed supply or into
crops meant for the food or feed supply affected human or animal
health, some resulted in lost trade opportunities. Moreover, the
total number of unauthorized releases into the environment is
unknown. USDA and EPA have the authority to inspect fields in
which GE crops are tested, but crop developers have detected
most violations. USDA and EPA have taken enforcement actions in
response to violations, ranging from warning letters to
significant penalties. The agencies have used lessons learned
from unauthorized releases to make regulatory and policy
changes. For example, USDA increased inspections of field trial
sites for GE crops producing pharmaceutical compounds; EPA
discontinued a policy under which a GE crop containing a
pesticidal agent could be approved for animal feed, but not for
food; and FDA established a voluntary early food safety
evaluation program for certain GE crops intended for food use to
help mitigate the impact should unauthorized releases occur
during field trials, although it has not made these evaluations
available to the public.
USDA, EPA, and FDA routinely coordinate their oversight and
regulation of GE crops in many respects, but could improve their
efforts. Specifically, USDA and FDA do not have a formal method
for sharing information that could enhance FDA’s voluntary early
food safety review for certain GE crops in the field trial stage
and support USDA’s oversight. Also, the three agencies do not
have a coordinated program for monitoring the use of marketed GE
crops to determine whether the spread of genetic traits is
causing undesirable effects on the environment, non-GE segments
of agriculture, or food safety, as recommended by the National
Research Council and others.
USDA, EPA, and FDA have proposed regulatory changes intended to
improve their oversight of GE crops. In 2007, USDA assessed a
wide array of regulatory alternatives that could redefine, on
the basis of risk, which GE crops it regulates and how it will
respond to unauthorized releases. USDA’s fiscal year 2009 budget
request also seeks funding for a voluntary system to help GE
crop developers employ best management practices to reduce the
risk of unauthorized releases. Furthermore, the 2008 Farm Bill
required USDA to take actions on lessons learned from its
investigation of an unauthorized release of GE rice. EPA has
proposed several changes to its regulations for GE crops that
produce pesticides, including one change that would distinguish
between pesticidal agents produced in GE crops and those applied
topically to crops. In 2001, FDA proposed to require that GE
food developers notify the agency before marketing their
products. However, as of July 2008, FDA had not taken action to
finalize the proposed rule, believing its current approach
calling for voluntary notice is sufficient.
Full report:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0960.pdf |
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