Meanwhile, biotechnology is not the only international food issue to involve FDA or to create a split between the United States and the European Union. The precautionary principle, as defined in February 2000 by the EU Commission, would ban, require additional labeling, or otherwise restrict the use of any food if the science to determine its safety or level of risk is judged to be uncertain. It is too often too late. It often underestimates the evidence for risk. The use of the precautionary principle is not a denial of science, but a call for more science.
Precaution is a part of our food safety process.
The United States is not opposed to European countries adopting the precautionary principle, Carnevale adds, so long as it is not directed solely against foods they import from the United States. Many Americans are concerned that the French could use it, she says, to restrict imported meat from cattle in the United States that were fed growth hormones, when, for example, French health agencies have so far been unwilling to apply the same principle to Listeria monocytogenes in French cheeses. Listeriosis in pregnant women can result in miscarriage, fetal death, and severe illness or death of a newborn infant. Others at risk for severe illness or death are the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. OECD is an organization of the United States and other developed countries.