“Mendel in the Kitchen” Author Discusses Biotech Safety

Dr. Nina Federoff, author of Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist’s View of Genetically Modified Foods, recently spoke in a seminar at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C.

Federoff stated that the risks to biotech foods remain hypothetical. “There is not one documented case of real risk that is unique to the technology,” she said.  She also suggested that biotechnology is becoming more accepted in the mainstream of public thought, and the hard-core activists are the remaining opponents.

One example is virus-resistant papaya, where farmers and consumers have embraced the technology but activists still object to it.  However, the activists still have a powerful voice, and are a primary reason that many crops (including wheat) do not have commercial biotech applications today, despite compelling cases for environmental or productivity benefits.

Another example is a variety of virus-resistant cocoa has been developed, which would provide substantial benefit to small cocoa farmers, but is not being commercialized due to perceived consumer reservations.

She addressed several common criticisms raised by biotech opponents, including the fear of new toxins somehow being created.  “The probability of introducing a new toxin through recombinant DNA techniques is remote, and it is tested for [by the regulatory system],” she said.  “Introduction of allergenicity, while more difficult, is also tested for. It’s far more likely to be exposed to a food allergen by trying a product you’ve never tried before than trying a biotech version of a common food.”

Federoff said that another concern, gene flow (and potential resistance development), is no greater or lesser problem with biotech than with conventional breeding techniques, she said – gene flow is simply a fact of nature.  Borrowing a quote from Missouri Botanical Garden head Dr. Peter Raven, she said that “there is nothing more devastating to biodiversity than the agriculture necessary to feed 6 billion people.”   Biotechnology can actually help preserve biodiversity if it is applied in the right way, she said.

Federoff is a professor of life sciences at Pennsylvania State University, and a member of the National Academy of
Sciences.