WASHINGTON, June 8, 2016 - Three veterans of agriculture and
food policy whom a President Hillary Clinton might want to tap for advice see
no justification for mandatory GMO labeling, and they see no need for
reorganizing the federal regulatory agencies.
Margaret Hamburg, who headed the Food and Drug
Administration during most of the Obama administration, says that calls for
mandatory labeling of biotech foods “potentially send the message” that GMOs
are “dangerous.” During her tenure at FDA, the agency stood by its
long-standing position that there was no legal basis for requiring labels on
biotech products.
Hamburg, speaking on a panel at Georgetown University Law
Center, worries that the public concerns about agricultural biotechnology
reflect “science denialism.”
“The positives (of genetic engineering) are very compelling,
especially if we care about food security around the globe,” she said.
Donna Shalala, who oversaw FDA as secretary of health and
human services for all eight years of the Clinton administration, said it’s
critical for the president to protect the FDA’s ability to make science-based
decisions on biotechnology as well as on other issues. “If we are not willing
to tie ourselves to science-based decisions, we will be in big trouble in this
country,” she said. Shalala worries that on food issues and biotechnology in
particular “people often let their ideology and their opinions equate to
facts.”
Dan Glickman, agriculture secretary during Bill Clinton’s
administration, has long been a supporter of biotechnology, but he warned that
skepticism about genetic engineering has underscored the need to restore public
confidence in regulatory agencies. He said there is “growing lack of trust by
Americans in all of their institutions – government, politics, business,
regulation.”
Hillary Clinton has provided mixed messages on GMO labeling.
While campaigning in Iowa ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses, she reportedly expressed
support for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s effort to forge a
compromise on the issue. Vilsack has argued that food companies should be
allowed to disclose biotech ingredients through smartphone codes as opposed to
on-package wording. However, the Clinton campaign’s Twitter feed later praised
the Senate for blocking a bill that would preempt state labeling laws.
“Congress shouldn’t block states from giving families information about their
food,” the March 16 tweet
said.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
