Consumers Don’t Want Biotech Food in their Food Pyramid
Consumer group calls out USDA for putting biotech interests before consumer health
Washington, DC – National consumer organization Food & Water Watch demonstrated today outside a press conference by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announcing the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Along with its coalition partners, Food & Water Watch drew attention to the USDA’s decision last week to allow the unrestricted planting of genetically engineered alfalfa, as well as the FDA’s pending approval of the first GE animal to be approved for human consumption – AquaBounty’s AquaAdvantage salmon.
“Despite widespread consumer rejection of genetically engineered food, our federal agencies seem more dedicated to the financial success of the biotech industry than protecting the health and environment of consumers or the livelihoods of small- and medium-sized farmers,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “They may as well add a level to the food pyramid and tell us what our recommended allowance of GMOs should be.”
A 2009 Consumer Reports poll revealed that the majority of consumers would not eat genetically modified food, while a Food & Water Watch poll conducted with Lake Research Partners in September 2010 showed that 78 percent of Americans were against the approval of a GE salmon for human consumption and 91 percent believed the FDA should not allow transgenic pigs, chicken and cattle into the food supply until the agency could perform its own safety studies.
“The biotech industry is pushing hard to genetically engineer every facet of our food system even though the long term human health consequences are unknown,” said Hauter. “We’ve already witnessed the spread of ‘superweeds’ and contamination of non-GE crops from genetically engineered plants, but these facts seem to get buried by the millions of dollars spent by the biotech lobby to influence Congress and government agencies like the FDA and USDA.”
A November 2010 analysis done by Food & Water Watch shows that over the last decade, top food and agriculture biotechnology firms and trade associations spent over half a billion dollars – $572 million – in campaign contributions and lobbying Congress in support of controversial projects like GE food.
“The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are purportedly evidence-based to promote health and reduce risk of chronic diseases,” said Hauter. “If this is truly the case, the USDA and HHS need to take into account the evidence that the public is concerned about the potential health, environmental and economic threats of GE foods and they should not infiltrate our food supply.”
Additional resources:
Statement by Wenonah Hauter on USDA’s deregulation of GE alfalfa
CONTACT: Darcey Rakestraw, drakestraw(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 202-683-2467 or Anna Ghosh, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 415-265-1568