Given that 30 countries have banned GMO's, how can the U.S. biotech industry claim that GMO's are safe for human consumption and the environment without having conducted any long-term feeding studies? Along the same line, why doesn't the FDA conduct it's own independent GMO feeding studies, given that it has a duty to protect the public health?

Expert response from Wendelyn Jones

Director of Global Policy and Scientific Affairs, DuPont Pioneer

Friday, 11/15/2013 19:21

GMO Answers has received several questions asking why GMOs have been banned in 30 countries or 60 countries. This is simply not true. Although GMOs may be grown on a small percentage of the hectares in some European countries, they routinely import GMOs for food and feed use. A previous response to a similar question discusses this issue in detail.

We also commonly hear concern that there are no longer-term feeding studies. A review of several long-term feeding studies was published by Snell et al. in 2012 and can be found here. In addition, the Biofortified website contains a list of more than 1,000 studies on biotechnology, including long-term feeding studies.  It can be accessed at: http://www.biofortified.com.

You are correct that the Food and Drug Administration does not conduct its own safety studies. However, FDA scientists do thoroughly review the research conducted by the developers of biotech products and information available in scientific journals. This is the standard process for all regulatory agencies world-wide. A description of this process was addressed in another response available here.