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Concern about the safety of genetically-engineered foods cannot be isolated from the history of food generally. Consumers have always been assured that new products are safe, yet they live the 20-50 years it usually takes to see reversals of policy on such assurances. Peanut oil in infant formula was safe until it was shown to trigger anaphylaxis. Carrageenan was safe in infant formulas until it was found to be a carcinogen. Phyto-oestrogens may be wonderful for menopausal women but many people are now concerned about their potential for harm in developing infants fed infant formula (and bovine formulas contain more active ingredient than does soy formula.) Indeed, all infant formula was safe until we discovered just how many additional risks it creates for infants.
In this country parents are now being offered at a premium price infant formula with triglycerides synthesized by genetically-altered marine algae. Australia has not yet established standards for the marketing of genetically-engineered food, but among the first people to be fed it are infants. I have no doubt that someone will assure us that it is safe. I would like to be more confident that such assurances will be worth as much to parents as they are to the industry which strenuously makes the claim. I would also like companies to label the can accurately: "some fats made by genetically-altered marine algae", and then see what sales are like...Choice would be a wonderful thing.
Firstly, one further problem people have with GE foods is that while we have bred crops for thousands of years, we have never inserted genetic material from one organism into another organism at a particular site. The methods of GE are very different to the methods of breeding, which interfere less in natural reproduction. There is also a perception that they are less than fully accurate - the use of vector viruses and bacteria being quite hit and miss. Both of these questions need to be addressed to increase confidence. And finally people do not know enough about testing procedures to have confidence in them, and as you point out they do not automatically trust governmental scientific authorities. So both the process and the testing need to be explained in as much detail as possible.
What choice do babies have?
Concern about the safety of genetically-engineered foods cannot be isolated from the history of food generally. Consumers have always been assured that new products are safe, yet they live the 20-50 years it usually takes to see reversals of policy on such assurances. Peanut oil in infant formula was safe until it was shown to trigger anaphylaxis. Carrageenan was safe in infant formulas until it was found to be a carcinogen. Phyto-oestrogens may be wonderful for menopausal women but many people are now concerned about their potential for harm in developing infants fed infant formula (and bovine formulas contain more active ingredient than does soy formula.) Indeed, all infant formula was safe until we discovered just how many additional risks it creates for infants.
In this country parents are now being offered at a premium price infant formula with triglycerides synthesized by genetically-altered marine algae. Australia has not yet established standards for the marketing of genetically-engineered food, but among the first people to be fed it are infants. I have no doubt that someone will assure us that it is safe. I would like to be more confident that such assurances will be worth as much to parents as they are to the industry which strenuously makes the claim. I would also like companies to label the can accurately: "some fats made by genetically-altered marine algae", and then see what sales are like...Choice would be a wonderful thing.
Competing interests: No competing interests