USDA Wants NAS Panel
On Bio-Modified Crops

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked the National Academy of Sciences to set up a 15-member panel to study genetically modified crops.

With growing resistance from European and Asian consumers to genetically modified crops, USDA has asked that a panel be appointed to study the problem. The panel will analyze the environmental impact of GMOs, if any, and issue guidelines on how to assess risks.

Last summer, Cornell scientists found that one type of bio-engineered corn was safe for human consumption, but another killed the larvae of the Monarch butterfly. The data ignited a global debate over the safety of GMOs, and several big food companies have announced a halt in buying GMO crops.

Cornell scientists say the lab results did not duplicate real world conditions. For example, they point out, the butterfly larvae do not feed on corn, and thus could not have been harmed by the insect-resistant crop itself. The experiment instead required that the caterpillars' preferred weeds be heavily dusted with pollen from modified corn, a situation that would not have existed outside the laboratory because the weeds and the pollen are not both present during the same period of time.

U.S. farm groups and seed companies maintain there is no real difference between traditional plant breeding and genetic manipulation of plants, but others argue that not enough is known about the long term effects.