Lecture BEYOND FOOD AND EVIL

The mass marketing of foods derived from organisms modified through recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology (genetically modified, or GM foods) has put extreme pressure on the interpretation and implementation of the United States’ basic food safety law, the venerable Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FD&CA). In its classic form, the FD&CA reflects its Progressive and New Deal roots. It vests enormous trust in a specialized agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is presumed to have nonpareil expertise over food safety. The political reality of GM foods, however, has placed the FD&CA and its implementation by the FDA in severe tension with the Organic Foods Production Act and with commercial speech doctrine. Although proponents of rDNA-based food technology tout dream products such as Golden Rice, most commercially viable GM crops are aimed at modifying the characteristics of plants with respect to agricultural production rather than retail consumption. GM crops tend to fall into two categories, either herbicide resistant (as in Roundup Ready soybeans) or pesticidal in their own right (as in Btenhanced corn). These crops raise at least five distinct concerns: 1. These crops may be unsafe for human consumption. 2. Herbicide resistant GM crops may confer this trait on wild relatives and create “weedy” strains.