U.S., Europe react differently over modified foods

Governments across the world have placed moratoriums on some genetically modified foods while campaigns in the U.S. are calling for the labeling of genetically modified food products.  MESSAGE BOARDS: Message board: What are your thoughts on genetically modified food?

July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT)

Why are genetically modified foods getting so much attention in Europe while Americans seem to be going about their grocery shopping as usual?

"There is a cultural difference. Europeans tend to put more priority on safe and proven foods," said David Brubaker, director of the Factory Farm Project at the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment. "In Europe, there is a heightened awareness of environmental and health concerns that doesn't exist in the United States."

Genetically modified foods include tomatoes, corn, soy and potatoes that are altered in the laboratory to contain substances not commonly found in them. The biotechnology industry produces genetically altered seeds to improve the taste and look of foods, reduce the use of insecticides and pesticides and increase production yields for a growing world population.

According to Charles Margulis, a genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace, 75 percent of all bio-engineered crops are grown in the U.S.

Many Europeans still head to the local farmers' booths at the weekly community market to purchase fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat. Most Americans shop at grocery stores that most often stock their shelves with products from large food suppliers. Brubaker believes this distinction puts Europeans more in-touch with how their food is produced than Americans.

"In the U.S., we are so removed from farms, we have no clue about how food is produced. Europeans are much more knowledgeable about how their food is produced," said Brubaker. "Most people in Europe live closer to farms than in the U.S."

Margulis agrees that Europeans are more aware of food production processes in their country. "There is a general food culture in Europe. We are kind of at a crossroads in the U.S. We can go back to a European-style food culture we had once in America, or we can stay on the scientific track where so-called food experts decide for us what real food is."

Although many forces are at work behind the genetically modified food controversy, Margulis believes the primary lack of American public awareness stems from the biotechnology industries.

"The bio-tech industries have been very clever in hiding GM food from the public. They think the best way to get the (GM) crops into the consumers' mouths is to hide the main ingredient, like soy oil or corn syrup. Most processed foods contain hidden GM ingredients," said Margulis

According to Mothers for Natural Law, a clearinghouse for GM food issues, 60 to 70 percent of foods on U.S. grocery store shelves contain genetically engineered substances.

"Approximately 60 percent of processed food in U.S. grocery stores contain at least one soybean product," said Bob Callanan of the American Soybean Association. And since about half the soybean crops planted this year include genetically engineered Roundup Ready (tm) soybeans, Americans will be ingesting a GM substance, totally unbeknownst to them.

Callanan blames the hype over GM foods in Europe on the government's less-than-perfect track record for handling food safety issues.

"Consumers in the U.S. have a high confidence level that people in authority, national and state leaders, are doing a pretty good job in food safety," said Callanan. "Unfortunately, a while back Europe had a mad cow disease outbreak. That created a lack of confidence that the government was being honest with its citizens, or even letting them know what was going on."

Mad cow disease, scientifically named bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first identified in Britain in the mid-1980s. In 1995, the human form of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt Jakob, killed several people. After years of studies and denials that mad cow disease could affect humans, the British government in 1996 announced that there was probably a link between this new CJ disease strain and eating meat infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

More recently, dioxin-contaminated animal feed produced in Belgium was fed to farm animals contaminating the Belgian food supply and agriculture products in many other European countries. The Belgian government did not issue food safety warnings until two months after the damage was done. The effects of the contamination were felt from Asia to the U.S. where Belgian food products were removed from grocery store shelves or excluded from import.

To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not required testing of any GM foods, stating they are not aware of any information showing that GM foods differ from any other foods.

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