27 Jun 2014, BioSpectrum Bureau , BioSpectrum
Singapore: While consumers are demanding food companies to specify the genetically modified ingredients of the food, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had released an advertisement saying that there is no concrete evidence proving the harm of GM foods.
The Taiwan Homemakers United Foundation (HUF) has accused the US FDA of misleading the people and hiding the true facts of GM foods. The advertisement which featured in the United daily News said that there is no sustained evidence to prove that genetically modified foods are carcinogenic.
The article was supported with quotes by a biotechnology professor in Taiwan, the vice president of a food company in South Korea and FDA director Mr Yeh Ming-kung.
A French scientist Mr Gilles-Eric Seralini had conducted a renowned experiment which showed that rats developed cancer when fed with GM foods.
The advertisement claimed that the study was removed by its publisher upon assessing the small number and single breed of rats used in the experiment.
Incidentally, the same experiment was also conducted by a genetic seed manufacturing company Monsato. The firm had refused to publish the results of the experiment. Monsato had approached Taiwan to sell their GM foods and they were severely condemned by the HUF who demanded an evidence for the safety of the company's products.
The advertisemnet quoted a Taiwanese professor and a South Korean food company official as saying that there is no clear scientific evidence that eating genetically modified food is harmful to human health.
The advertisement also stated that Mr Ming-kung described that genetic foods are so common that it is difficult and meaningless to label them, so FDA would only label food products that do not have genetic material.
The HUF added that the negative effects of GM foods would appear in the long run and that government must pay attention to prioritize food safety in the interest of the public.