han chemical products. Genetically manipulated products can reproduce, mutate, grow, and migrate. When they are released into the natural environment it is impossible to recallthem, they are living organisms and it would not be viable. This is especially true because they would be microscopic viruses and bacteria, which are a definite threat and very likely to result from their release.Several previous technologies have been proven to have adverse effects, like the incident of tryptophan. “In 1989, a genetically engineered form of the food supplement tryptophan produced toxic contaminants. As a result, 37 people died, 1500 others were permanently disabled, and 500 others became very ill. This mistake could happen again.” ( Eosinophilia-mygalgia syndrome and tryptophan production: a cautionary tale. Mayeno, A.N.Gleich, G.L.Tibtech, 12, 346-352.) Another example of the devastating results unexpected by their developers was DDT. It turned out to accumulate in fish and thin the shells of fish-eating birds such as osprey and eagles. And chlorofluorocarbons were found to float into the upper atmosphere and destroy the ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful radiation.With what has happened in past circumstances where a newly developed drug or product was believed to be safe and released to the public or into the environment and then caused serious, irreversible destruction, our government does not seem to have learned from theirmistakes and are not taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of these products. “The current Federal regulatory system is inadequate. To assure protection of health and the environment. The federal policies are confusing, duplicative, and operating without clearCongressional sanction. The current controls are a loose patchwork, pieced together across five agencies and at least ten different laws, all of which predate genetic engineering. They are not equipped with the authorit...
