Journal or Publishing Institution: Food & Drug Law Journal
Study: https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/foodlj61§ion=17
Author(s): Strauss, D.M.
Article Type: Journal Publication
Record ID: 2229
Text: Biotechnology is big business.1 As such, the use of biotechnology to engineer plants, and the regulation of the resulting food crops, involves economic and trade issues, as well as science and health issues.2 Through modern biotechnology, selected individual genes are transferred from one organism into another, sometimes between nonrelated species, using recombinant DNA (rDNA) methods.3 The genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are created as GM plants then produce GM foods.4 The first GM crop—the GM tomato—was sold in the market in 1994,5 and genetically modified products have been commercially available in the United States since 1995.6 Genes derived from a bacterium in the soil, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), have been inserted into crops to promote resistance to certain insects, producing Bt-corn, Bt-cotton, Bt-potato, Bt-rice, and Bt-tomato. Glyphosate-tolerant soybeans (e.g., Roundup Ready® by Monsanto) contain a gene that protects them from the herbicide glyphosate so that the fields can be sprayed with the herbicide, thus killing the weeds while leaving the soybeans standing. Herbicide-resistant varieties of canola, cotton, corn, radicchio, rice, and sugar beet also are on the market. The United States has approved virus-resistant varieties of papaya, potato, and squash, along with tomato and cantaloupe, which contain a gene that slows the ripening process to allow fruit to ripen longer on the vine.7…
Keywords: international law, international trade, food and drug law, genetically modified organisms, GMOs, genetically engineered, genetic engineering, bioengineering, biotechnology
Citation: Strauss, D.M., 2006. The international regulation of genetically modified organisms: importing caution into the US food supply. Food & Drug Law Journal, 61, p.167.
