red foods will be indistinguishable in appearance from non-engineered foods, consumers will generally not know what they are buying. FDA ignores consumers’ right to know by ignoring longstanding regulations that require in most circumstances that manufactures label foods to disclose their ingredients. For example, researchers have genetically engineered vegetables to produce a new protein sweetener. Existing FDA regulations mandate that companies disclose sweeteners added to canned vegetables via conventional means. Yet, FDA will not require that proteins sweeteners added to vegetables via genetic engineering be labeled as ingredients. Labeling is vital to food allergic individuals, who need to know when their purchases are potentially allergenic. FDA will require labeling of foods genetically engineered to contain potential allergens from only the most commonly allergenic foods—a requirement that threatens individuals with less common food allergies. FDA also will require labeling if a company uses genetic engineering techniques to change a food’s composition significantly. For example, when one manufacturer modified canola to produce increased levels of lauric and myristic acids in the seed oil, FDA agreed that the common or usual name for this oil would be “laurate canola oil” in order to distinguish it from traditional canola oil. Some vegetarians and individuals who follow religious dietary laws have told FDA that they want to know when animal genes are added to plants used as foods. FDA has taken no steps to accommodate their dietary beliefs and restrictions. What can you do as a consumer ? Look for soy products and ingredients like tofu, tempeh, miso, soy sauce, soymilk that are organic. All other soy ingredients are almost genetically manipulated and herbicide- treated. The same is true for canola, corn, dairy products and potatoes. Look for organic corn, potato and dairy ingredients when you shop. ...
