FDA Hearing On Modified Food
Crops Hears From Both Sides

CHICAGO —(AP)— As Scott Fritz sees it, growing genetically modified corn and soybeans on his northern Indiana farm is a good thing. He says he needs fewer insecticides to protect the heartier plants and he's able to produce more on the same amount of land.

That's what he came to tell government officials and activists who were in Chicago recently for a Food and Drug Administration hearing on the safety of genetically modified foods.

``Let us take the acres we have — and let us produce,'' said Fritz, a fourth-generation farmer who traveled from Winamac, Ind., to speak on behalf of farmers and the American Soybean Association.

But Kaye Murphy, a resident of the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, would rather farmers and the agricultural companies who are developing the genetically modified products leave Mother Nature alone.

``They're playing God,'' said Murphy, who joined a rowdy protest of about 100 at a downtown Chicago plaza. ``It just doesn't seem right.''

The FDA hearing — the first in a series of three nationwide — has been the public's first chance to tell government officials outside of Washington what they think of genetically modified food, a controversial topic in Europe and other parts of the world.

Thailand, for example, already has banned importation of genetically engineered food seeds, and some baby-food companies have stopped using biotech ingredients because of the backlash.

Activists — who criticize the new products as ``frankenfood'' — say they want guarantees that genetically altered food is safe, something at least one scientist at the hearings said isn't possible.

``You're not going to get any rational scientist to guarantee 100 percent safety,'' said Bruce Chassy, a food microbiology professor at the University of Illinois.

However, he said shutting the door on the so-called biotech field — and its many potential benefits — ``would be a terrible mistake.''

Biotech foods already are in wide use, including corn in tortilla chips and tomatoes in spaghetti sauce.

Officials from St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. who attended the hearings have long said their products, including genetically modified corn, are safe. But they welcomed the opportunity to ``educate the public,'' said spokeswoman Lisa Watson.

So far, FDA officials have sided with industry, pointing out that companies developing new products, from Monsanto to DuPont Co., have voluntarily stepped forward with product research.

In doing so, they have been able to show that, to the best of their knowledge, no new toxins or allergy-causing components are being introduced to the consuming public, said James Maryanski, the FDA's biotechnology coordinator.

Federal officials, however, also have declined to label food that contains genetically modified products, a policy that has opponents worried.

``It would tell the consumer that the government thinks there's something to be concerned about,'' Bill MacLeod, former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at a news conference before the hearings.

Others say labels would allow consumers to decide for themselves whether to eat the genetically altered food.

``The bottom line is that they have a choice and can act on it, using their own beliefs and desires,'' said Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Washington-based Center for Food Safety. ``They have the right to decide what's safe for them.''

His group has sued the FDA to force it to require labels and safety trials as a means for federal approval.