Genetically modified foods : experts view regimen of safety tests as adequate, but FDA's evaluation process could be enhanced : report to Congressional requesters / United States General Accounting Office.

Format:

Book

Government document

Series:

GAO-02-566.

GAO-02-566

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Food and Drug Administration--Rules and practice--Evaluation.

United States. Food and Drug Administration.

Genetically modified foods--Health aspects.

Genetically modified foods--United States--Safety measures--Evaluation.

United States.

Genre:

NET resource.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ii, 47 pages)

Contained In:

On: General Accounting Office web site.

Other Title:

Experts view regimen of safety tests as adequate, but FDA's evaluation process could be enhanced

Place of Publication:

[Washington, D.C.] : U.S. General Accounting Office, [2002]

Summary:

In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidelines to ensure that companies worked with the agency to assess the safety of genetically modified foods. Genetically modified foods pose the same risks to human health as do other foods. These risks include allergens; toxins; and compounds known as antinutrients, which inhibit the absorption of nutrients. Before marketing a genetically modified food, company scientists seek to determine whether these foods pose any heightened risks. GAO concludes that FDA's evaluation process could be enhanced by randomly verifying the test data provided and by increasing the transparency of the evaluation process, including communicating more clearly the scientific rationale for FDA's final decision on an assessment of genetically modified food. Scientists expect that genetic modifications will increasingly enhance the nutritional value of genetically modified foods. Although current tests have been adequate for evaluating the few genetically modified foods that have, so far, undergone relatively simple compositional changes, new technologies are being developed to evaluate the increasingly complex compositional changes expected. Monitoring the long-term health risks of genetically modified foods is generally neither necessary nor feasible. No scientific evidence exists, nor is there even a hypothesis, suggesting that long-term harm, such as higher cancer rates, results from these foods. Moreover, technical challenges make long-term monitoring infeasible.

Notes:

Title from title page (viewed Oct. 23, 2002).

"May 2002."

Paper version available from: General Accounting Office, 441 G St., NW, Rm. LM, Washington, D.C. 20548.

Includes bibliographical references.

"GAO-02-566."

Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011.

Other Format:

United States. General Accounting Office. Genetically modified foods : experts view regimen of safety tests as adequate, but FDA's evaluation process could be enhanced

OCLC:

53277108

Access Restriction:

Use copy Restrictions unspecified

Access copy available to the general public. Unrestricted.