The following is an edited excerpt of a longer story. Find a link to the full story below.
The overregulation of genetically modified crops is a response not to scientific evidence, but to a global campaign that disseminates misinformation and fear about these food sources, said University of Illinois food scientist Bruce Chassy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.
Farmers have witnessed the advantages of GM crops firsthand through increases in their yields and profit, and decreases in their labor, energy consumption, pesticide use and greenhouse gas emissions, Chassy said.
Despite these benefits, various regulatory agencies require newly developed GM crops to be put to the test with rigorous safety evaluations that include molecular characterization, toxicological evaluation, allergenicity assessments, compositional analysis and feeding studies. This extensive testing takes five to 10 years and costs tens of millions of dollars, and Chassy argues that this process “wastes resources and diverts attention from real food safety issues.
View the full story here: Food science expert: Genetically modified crops are overregulated
