Genetically modified crops have become a lightning rod for world fears about the food supply, but public concerns are badly unbalanced, says a British scientist.
Philip Dale of the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom says more fairness is needed in evaluating the risks of new food products.
And Canada’s approval system is offering a solution that could renew consumer confidence and ensure food safety in Europe.
“In Canada, there is a regulatory system which has a concept of novel crops no matter how they’re produced, whether they’re genetically modified or conventionally bred,” said Dale, who spoke at the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms conference in Saskatoon.
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“Hopefully, as time goes on in Europe, they’ll be able to adapt the same kind of system.”
Dale said it doesn’t make any sense to ban or delay the introduction of genetically modified crops while conventionally grown crops are introduced with few restrictions.
Others ignored
Conventionally bred crops face fewer obstacles to introduction even though some – including those created by mutagenesis – could be dangerous to human health and the environment.
Mutagenesis is a plant breeding process in which seeds of a crop are blasted with chemicals or radiation in the hopes that mutations will create valuable new genes.
New crops created by mutagenesis are not regarded as genetically modified organisms.
That allows Australia to claim that its canola crop is GMO-free.
The European Union bans the commercial introduction of GM crops. The United States treats GM crops like any other crop.
Canada forces the developer of any significantly new food substance -whether it is produced through genetic engineering or not – to go through an assessment process.
The process is designed to reveal risks or problems with the product.
The assessment examines what has been changed in the food, the manufacturing process used, the proposed use of the new product, its unintended consequences and its potential for toxicity, said Paul Mayers of Health Canada.
“It’s a comprehensive approach to regulation of novel foods,” said Mayers.
Dale said an approach like Canada’s would identify dangerous products without discriminating against GMO crops.
Some anti-GMO activists have called for an introduction ban on all GM crops in Europe until long-range tests identify the crops’ environmental and health impacts.
But Dale, who was the first British researcher to test GMO crops and has been testing them since 1987, said there is no point to stopping the introduction of GMO crops.
“You learn nothing by a moratorium,” said Dale.
“In my view it has been debated enough already. I think it comes to a point where you need to get them out into agriculture and to monitor them, get experience and get familiarity with them.”
