Poll: People Reject ‘Genetic Engineering’ Of Animals

by Maria A. Schulz

In a recent poll conducted by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, a research group, 81% of 1,000 Americans interviewed said that designing biotech crops to make affordable drugs is a good idea, but only 49% of the same respondents believed that genetically engineering animals for drugs is acceptable.

"As you go up the evolutionary ladder, people are less comfortable with genetic modification of any animals," said Michael Rodemeyer, executive director for the Pew Initiative.

So far, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed foods onto the market that come from crops genetically altered to resist pests or tolerate chemicals.

But companies are already beginning to tinker with animals in the hopes that they can thereby create new medicines and clone animals whose organs could be transplanted into sick patients.

The National Academy of Sciences said in a report last year that the government should develop a strict approval system for transgenic animals - those made from genes of two or more species. They said the approval system was needed in order to protect the food supply.

But the NAS also claimed that cloned animals are "probably" safe for humans to eat.

The FDA currently treats transgenic animals as if they were drugs, requiring companies to prove through rigorous testing that consuming these animals would not be harmful.

With plants, the FDA asks companies to voluntarily supply data showing that the new food crop is basically the same as a conventionally grown plant.

If that’s the case, the company gets a letter saying that the FDA has reviewed the information and has no questions. This clears the way for companies to market their food.

Eighty-nine percent of consumers surveyed believe that companies should also be required to submit safety records to the FDA for review in the case of genetically altered animals, and that the FDA shouldn’t allow it on the market unless it is proven safe.

The biotechnology industry and consumer groups have been pressing for a mandatory process to replace the letters of certification, to increase consumer trust in biotech foods.

Last January, the Pew Initiative also questioned the adequacy of FDA regulations for reviewing the risks of transgenic fish.

The agency is currently assessing an application by Aqua Bounty Farms, a biotech company, to market genetically modified Atlantic salmon. The fish are designed to produce less waste but grow larger and faster than wild salmon.

The company is currently preparing tests to see if the fish would cause allergic reactions in humans.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.