Food Security: Rigorous Regulation Required

摘要

We agree with N. V. Fedoroff et al. That the U.S. regulatory framework for agricultural biotechnology needs serious reexami-nation ("Radically rethinking agriculture for the 21st century," Perspectives, special section on Food Security, 12 February, p. 833). However, we disagree with their suggestion that regulators should relaxrnoversight to facilitate biotechnology products' entry into the market. The existing framework is already too weak. For example, under current food laws, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require data, review it, and then use it to conclude that biotech plant foods are safe (1). Instead, the agency reviews studies submitted by product developers and issues letters that simply restate the developers' conclusions about the safety of their products [e.g., (2)]. Understanding that this cozy approach would be unacceptable for biotech food animals, FDA regulates them under stronger, but inappropriate, authority as drugs (5).