Testimony

Of the Grocery Manufacturers of America

Before the Senate Agriculture Committee

Hearing on Biotechnology

October 7, 1999

Good afternoon. My name is Gary Kushner, and I am counsel to the Grocery Manufacturers of America. I am pleased to be testifying today on behalf of GMA and its members.

GMA is the world's largest association of food, beverage and consumer product companies. Led by a board of 42 Chief Executive Officers, GMA speaks for food and consumer product manufacturers at the state, federal and international levels on legislative and regulatory issues. The organization applies legal, scientific and political expertise from its member companies to vital food, nutrition and public policy issues affecting the industry. One such issue, which we are addressing today, is modern food biotechnology. With U.S. sales of more than $450 billion, GMA members represent more than 90 percent of food, beverage and consumer products sold in the United States and employ more than 2.5 million workers in all 50 states.

New, Better and Safer Foods

The U.S. food industry enjoys an enviable record of producing and distributing domestically and internationally an abundant and affordable supply of food that is safe, wholesome, and nutritious. This goal has been achieved not only because of our fundamental commitment to food safety and the consumers we serve, but also through advancements in science and technology. By combining these discoveries with safety assurance and quality control techniques, U.S. food companies continue to produce newer, better and safer foods. GMA believes that modern biotechnology is the most recent in a long line of such advancements that will enable the food industry to produce and market these foods to consumers in America and around the world.

Biotechnology Brings Modern Science to Age Old Processes

As you no doubt heard before, biotechnology is not a new concept. Indeed, plant breeders and farmers have used related techniques such as selective breeding and hybridization for centuries to develop a variety of foods with improved taste and other attributes. In fact, many of the fruits and vegetables consumers enjoy today were not always suited for human consumption, but rather were bred that way. Blueberries and lettuce, for instance, were wild forage for animals before USDA began research with both and made them edible for human consumption. Modern biotechnology simply allows today's farmers to do what they have always done, but with greater understanding and precision. It is through this scientific continuum that biotechnology must be viewed. It also should be noted that throughout the years of ongoing research and testing, the medical and scientific communities have agreed that foods produced through biotechnology are safe and do not differ in any meaningful way from other foods.

The Promise of Biotechnology is Only Beginning to be Realized

Modern biotechnology to date has benefited thousands of U.S. farmers who have

planted the biotech crops currently available: Soy, corn, potatoes, canola and cotton. No matter how one measures it, the results have been spectacular: After fewer than five years of commercial availability, plantings of biotech soy and cotton crops exceed plantings of traditional varieties. And, soon, plantings of corn, potatoes, and canola soon will do the same. Biotechnology has enabled these farmers to raise crops in a manner that uses less pesticides and herbicides and requires less tillage, thus eroding less soil. Farmers have responded by steadily planting more biotech crops every year.

Soon, the benefits of biotechnology that farmers now enjoy will extend to consumers. We are on the threshold of serving in our homes and our restaurants foods that are more healthy and nutritious, thanks to biotechnology.

And, there will be markets for these foods. For as the U.S. population - and indeed the world population -- ages, our ability to develop food products that are useful in the prevention of disease will become increasingly important. For instance, today, in America -

* 60 million Americans - or 1 in 4 Americans -- are at high risk for heart disease.

* 90 million Americans - or 1 in 3 Americans - have high cholesterol levels.

* 40 million Americans have arthritis.

* 25 million Americans have osteoporosis.

* 10 million Americans have cancer.

* 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's.

In essence, biotech foods could offer consumers the ability to actively make choices that may enhance and extend their lives as well as ward off disease.

Let me give you a few examples of what consumers may come to enjoy through biotech foods:

* Dr. DellaPenna, who testified earlier, spoke of his work regarding Vitamin A and rice, a main staple of the world's growing population. Over 250 million children are at risk for Vitamin A deficiency, which can result in learning disabilities and childbearing problems for women later in life. Dr. DellaPenna's work offers tremendous health benefits to women worldwide.

* Yesterday, Dr. Arntzen also spoke about enhancing bananas to produce edible vaccines. Imagine, the logistical hurdles and delays faced by the Red Cross in delivering vaccines to children of the developing world totally disappearing as more and more children vulnerable to infection and disease simply reach for a piece of fruit for their inoculations.

* We also know of developments in food biotechnology that will produce fruits and vegetables with higher levels of certain nutrients, such as Vitamins C, E and beta-carotene, which may protect against certain cancers and heart disease.

* While we are on the topic, new enhancements in fruits and vegetables also may retard spoilage and damage that destroys nearly 40 percent of produce before it ever makes it to market.

* In the very near future, we will see high-oleic soybeans that will produce oil with improved fatty-acid profiles. This will help improve American diets especially relative to the risk of heart disease.

* In the area of baking, an ingredient developed through biotechnology has proven to be more effective in preserving baked goods than traditional preservatives.

* As we look to the seas, biotechnology is being used to more quickly replenish the diminishing stocks of trout in our lakes and rivers by enhancing their growth rates.

These are just some of the many developments in the biotech R& D pipeline today.

To say the least, the vision GMA members see of biotechnology and biotech foods is a very exciting one.

Foods Derived Through Biotechnology are Already Part of our Daily Diet

Biotechnology is widespread. Today, 43 crops enhanced through biotechnology have been approved by the U.S. Government and more than 60 million acres of biotech crops have been planted in the United States. These include, for the most part, numerous varieties of soy, corn, canola, potatoes, tomatoes and cotton. Reflecting on the many food products and ingredients that are created from these crops, one quickly may conclude that consumers throughout the United States and the world already enjoy foods derived through biotechnology.

Biotechnology is Being Used to Increase the World's Food Supply

We can't overlook the global perspective of biotechnology. The United Nations estimates that the world's population could more than double in 50 years. Much of that population growth will be in some of the world's poorest regions. Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug estimates that global cereal yield must increase by 80 percent over 1990 yields in order to feed the burgeoning world population. The 1997 World Bank and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research estimates that biotechnology is expected to help increase world food productivity by up to 25% in the developing world. Few other technologies will be able to approach biotech's potential to help address global hunger.

Food Biotechnology will Benefit the World's Environment

Crops enhanced through biotechnology are being developed that are more resistant to insect or virus damage, requiring fewer chemical applications and thus reducing stress on the environment. Some plants produced through modern biotechnology also will require less land and other natural resources. This is particularly important in developing countries where valuable tropical forests are routinely cut down for farmland. Plants enhanced through biotechnology can grow in less than ideal climate conditions, reducing the need for irrigation. As a result, in addition to our ability to develop better foods through biotechnology, we can also do it more efficiently and in a way that preserves and protects our natural resources. Certainly, everyone in the food chain from farmer to consumer is a beneficiary of this technology.

Current Policy Ensures the Safety and Appropriate Labeling of Biotech Foods

In addition to the food safety assurance efforts of food manufacturers, the safety of all foods produced and distributed in the United States is governed by a comprehensive regulatory scheme coordinated between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Collectively, these federal agencies, working in cooperation with state and local regulatory authorities, provide strong, diligent oversight of the food supply.

The same laws and regulations administered by these agencies apply to foods derived through biotechnology as well. And the safety of biotech foods has been endorsed by numerous national and international health organizations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, National Research Council, American Medical Association, and American Dietetic Association.

In addition to regulating food safety, FDA regulates the claims about food products made in the marketplace. GMA members strongly support the FDA's existing labeling policy for all foods, but particularly as it applies to biotech foods. Established in 1992, the policy states that no special labeling is required for biotech foods unless the foods differ from their traditional counterparts in a way such that the common or usual name no longer applies, or if a safety or usage issue exists to which consumers must be alerted. Special labeling may be required where, for example, a significant constituent is added or changed, as may be the case with allergens or certain nutritional substances. And in such a situation, any special labeling addresses the difference between the biotech food and the traditional food - e.g., the presence of allergens - not the fact that the food has been derived from biotechnology. In essence, information that is essential to consumer protection guides the Agency's policy and, in this light, can be viewed as a pro-consumer policy. Currently, foods derived from biotech commodities do not require special labeling.

FDA has vested its considerable credibility with consumers in the veracity of product labels in representing the safety and nutritional value of foods. If the U.S. Government were, in any way, to change its policy and require special labeling for biotech foods, such labeling could have the effect of misleading consumers into believing that biotech foods are either "different" from conventional foods or present a risk or a potential risk - even though FDA has determined that the biotech food is safe. Such special labeling of biotech foods could lead to the very kind of consumer confusion that labels are designed to prevent.

Alliance for Better Foods: Expanding the Fact-based Dialogue on Food Safety As representatives of U.S. food companies with a commitment and duty to market safe foods, we encourage Administration officials to speak strongly in support of the science-based regulatory systems in place in the United States that assure consumers that approved biotech commodities are safe and wholesome.

U.S. food companies will be speaking out, too, to encourage a fact-based discussion of the role that biotechnology can and will play in foods. GMA along with the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Food Marketing Institute and more than thirty other organizations recently established the "Alliance for Better Foods" to begin such a dialogue. The Alliance includes farmers, processors, retailers, scientists, health professionals, nutritionists, medical experts, academicians, those committed to protecting the environment, those fighting world hunger and those generally who support the development of biotechnology and biotech foods. We encourage members of the Committee and others to contact GMA for additional information about food biotechnology and participation in the Alliance.

Through focus groups and telephone surveys, moreover, consumers are telling the U.S. food industry that they are seeking more information about food biotechnology from the news media, the Internet, food companies and academic experts. Today, the Alliance for Better Foods is announcing its new website to help inform consumers about biotechnology and biotech foods. A mock-up of the website is

displayed here in the hearing room today. The address for this new website is www.betterfoods.org. I encourage members of this Committee, your colleagues and staff, news reporters and consumers everywhere who are interested in learning more about biotech foods to log on to the website.

Summary

In summary, history tells us that like other beneficial scientific advances, biotechnology will face serious hurdles on its way to widespread acceptance, including attacks from those who oppose scientific advances. We have seen this happen with the advent of modern life-saving drugs, with pasteurization for food safety, and even with electricity and the telephone - which critics claimed would spread disease.

As in the past, we cannot allow this kind of unsubstantiated and unscientific thinking to prevail. Acting together, food companies, lawmakers, scientists, farmers and regulators must work to ensure that activists with a political agenda do not kill the promise of biotech foods. Acting together, we must speak to the promise of biotech foods in providing more plentiful, healthful and nutritious food for America and for the world.

Thank you.

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