The Forum, dominated by experts partial to the industry, will prepare a report for the December 2000 U.S.-European Union summit. John Stauber, managing editor of the Madison, Wisconsin-based PR Watch, says that the problem for the biotech industry is that GE foods were pushed onto the market too fast. In Foreman and the Federation, they have a winner. But she wants biotech foods on the market, and the only question is how to get it. The project has hired a University of Texas Law Professor, Thomas O. McGarity, to draft legislation.
Foreman is skittish on the question of mandatory labeling of genetically engineered products.
She has refused to support legislation currently pending in Congress that would require mandatory labeling. Other major consumer groups have endorsed the legislation. We think it is the correct consumer position to endorse those bills, and it is frustrating that the Consumer Federation of America has not endorsed these bills. It's like putting a skull and crossbones on your product. Stauber points out that at a recent conference on food policy sponsored by the Federation in Washington, D.C., most of the participants came from the agribusiness and biotech industry.