Genetically modified (GM) foods are okay with the American Medical Association (AMA). On Tuesday, the Association adopted a "trust but verify policy," which accepts that there is no proven health risk associated with GM foods or products derived from transgenic ingredients, but that each product should go through a pre-market safety approval process.
"I suppose it's the best we can hope for from this group," says ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava. "The AMA has always been overly precautionary." The problem, of course, with a safety approval process for each individual product is that, in most instances, it's unnecessary and costly.
As ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross explains,Biotech methods are actually much more precise than the traditional cross-breeding agricultural techniques used over centuries past. There is absolutely no reason to think this technology will generate anything dangerous or toxic. This is true theoretically, and has been proven over the past 16-plus years of safe consumption of millions of tons of GM products, including soybeans, corn, and many others. Adding extra testing obstacles merely passes along higher costs to the public for no reason.
Importantly, though, the AMA does not support labeling products with ingredients derived from GM foods. As ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan says, We hope voters in California will take note.
