From: pmligotti@earthlink.net (Peter M. Ligotti)
Subject: GE Food--Full Page Ad, Oct. 17 1999, New York Times

(Monday's NY Times contains a full page ad .which is available for
downloading both in Acrobat and in text form at http://www.turnpoint.org)

UNLABELED, UNTESTED AND YOU'RE EATING IT!

In secret, genetically engineered foods are showing up on American grocery shelves. Though other countries now label biotech foods, the U.S. FDA still does not require labels or safety tests. Don't you have the right to know what's in your food? And if it's safe for your family?

You have the right to know if your baked potato contains bacteria genes...or if the tomato in your salad has genes of viruses spliced in. But at the very place where you encounter genetically engineered (GE) products - your local grocery store - there is silence.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the biotechnology industry have prevented the labeling of GE foods, effectively subverting your right to know! And so, every day, millions of American infants, children and adults eat genetically engineered foods without their knowledge.

Are these unlabeled foods dangerous? Nobody knows. The FDA refuses to require any safety testing of genetically engineered foods. This, despite the fact that there is significant scientific evidence that inserting novel genes into foods can sometimes create dangerous toxins. For example, this is the possible cause of the thousands of illnesses, and deaths from the GE food supplement L-tryptophan several years ago. Failure to require testing or labeling of GE foods has made millions of consumers into guinea pigs, unknowingly testing the safety of dozens of gene altered products.

PUBLIC OPINION

There is no doubt of the public's views. Opinion polls consistently show that more than 90% of Americans support the labeling of genetically engineered foods. A 1999 Time poll revealed that close to 60% would avoid such foods if they were labeled. And last year more than 280,000 angry consumers protested the Clinton administration's proposal on organic food standards that would have allowed genetically engineered foods to be certified as "organic." Little wonder that the biotechnology industry is fighting to stop labeling. If consumers knew what was in these foods, there's a good chance they wouldn't buy them. By its policy of "no labeling" of GE foods, the U.S. has become a rogue nation. The European Union has passed a law that requires labeling of genetically engineered foods. Meanwhile, Canada and the European Union have banned the use of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in the production of milk and dairy products. But the Clinton administration, the FDA, and the biotech food companies continue to stonewall the American public. * * *

To help overcome the government's irresponsible policy, we are publishing on this page a partial list of foods that have been genetically modified. Should you be concerned about genetically engineered foods? Yes, you should. According to documents recently released after a court order, even scientists from the Food and Drug Administration have known of some potential hazards from the genetic engineering of foods, dating as far back as 1991.

The following is a list of several potential dangers from the genetic engineering of foods. While there have been no tests so far conclusively establishing that genetically engineered foods are harmful to humans, the potential dangers are significant enough to mandate long-term independent testing of GE food products before release into supermarkets.

TOXICITY. According to some FDA scientists, the genetic engineering of food may bring "some undesirable effects such as increased levels of known naturally occurring toxicants, appearance of new, not previously identified toxicants, increased capability of concentrating toxic substances from the environment (e.g., pesticides or heavy metals), and undesirable alterations in the levels of nutrients." In other words, scientists from the FDA itself suspect that genetic engineering could make foods toxic.