Watsonville's Sam Earnshaw, a leading proponent for sustainable organic agricultural practices and family farms, is one of the coordinators of the 20th annual Ecological Farming Conference. The revelations come at a time when the FDA is under increasing pressure from consumer groups and members of Congress to require labeling of bioengineered foods. Glen Ellen organic farmer Bob Cannard is leading an effort to gather signatures for a statewide ballot initiative requiring such labeling. And this week in Pacific Grove, the Watsonville-based Committee for Sustainable Agriculture is hosting the 20th annual Ecological Farming Conference.
Bioengineered foods are high on the agenda.
The FDA documents were released to the Alliance for Bio-Integrity, a coalition of scientists, religious leaders, health professionals and consumers that is suing the FDA to demand mandatory safety testing and labeling of bioengineered foods. A legal brief filed recently by the alliance in U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C., quotes several agency scientists who raised objections in FDA memoranda about the agency's policy before it was established in 1992. Under this reasoning, the agency does not require labeling of bioengineered foods, and safety testing is voluntary for the companies that produce them. But according to Steven M. Druker, executive director of the Alliance for Bio-Integrity and coordinator of the lawsuit against the FDA, numerous agency experts have protested that drafts of the statement of policy ignored the recognized potential for bioengineering to produce unexpected toxins and allergens. According to the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, foods can be recognized as safe only on the basis of tests that establish their harmlessness.