The food we eatUSDA's IG warns about flood of genetically modified crops

Genetically modified crops (GM) have been a major bone of contention this past decade between the United States and some of its closest trading partners, especially in Europe: The United States exported its GM crops all over the world, while EU members raised questions about the safety and health consequences of the crops. Now the United States is preparing to block foreign GM foods from entering the United States — if they are deemed to threaten its agriculture, environment, or U.S. citizens’ health, that is. New Scientist reports that the warning was given to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which polices agricultural imports, by the department’s own auditor, the Office of Inspector General (OIG): “Unless international developments in transgenic plants and animals are closely monitored, USDA could be unaware of potential threats that particular new transgenic plants or animals might pose to the nation’s food supply.”

The OIG expects the number of GM crops and traits, and the number of countries producing them, to double by 2015, raising the risks of imports of GM crops unknown to the USDA. The report urges the USDA to strengthen its links with countries where research is exploding, such as China, India, and Brazil. China, for example, is ready to launch the world’s first commercial GM rice, but it has yet to be approved by the USDA. China is a particular source of worry, as safety and health standards there are below Western standards — and even when standards exist, they are not aggressively enforced. Problems will arise, says the OIG, when new GM products enter the U.S. undeclared — the USDA would be unprepared to test or even identify them.

The OIG cautions against blocks on imports that could be seen as trade barriers, however. In 2006 the World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the United States, arguing that the European Union’s stringent regulations on GM crops were anti-free trade.