14 DAY TRIAL // The investigative arm of Congress announced on Friday that more governmental control was needed in the manufacturing and distribution of genetically-modified organisms (GMO) in the nation's crops. The number of accidents involving modified organisms has been fairly low over the last years, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns that there might have been more of them, which passed unrecorded. It also said that, if they happened, there was still no way to tell, not even after a couple of years.
"As pointed out by GAO, the three regulatory agencies still do not adequately coordinate their regulation of the food safety or environmental consequences of these crops," the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health advocacy group, says in a statement, referring to the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which are three American agencies in charge of regulating GMO use.
The GAO report says that the three agencies still do not fully communicate, and that the level of cooperation between them continues to be low. It encouraged the USDA and the FDA to develop a formal agreement, binding them to share information about the effects that tested GMOs have on people, animals and the environment. The Accountability Office also advised the FDA to make its evaluation of modified organisms public, and the Food and Drug Administration approved, saying it would publish them on its website.
Tom Harkin, Iowa Democratic Sen, says that "When unapproved genetically engineered crops are detected in the food and feed supply, food safety concerns rise, markets are disrupted and consumer confidence falls." Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican Sen, adds in a statement that "We must do all we can do to enhance the effectiveness of oversight functions so the technology continues to be available as new products are introduced." Both officials agree that unchecked GMOs in the food supply are a problem that needs to be dealt with swiftly.