I'm professor Martina Newell McGloughlin and I direct
the international biotechnology program
at the University of California at Davis.
People have being introducing novel traits into crop plants for
about ten thousand years now.
Of course, the technologies over the last hundred years
have become much more sophisticated than some of the older technologies,
but in fact the modern technology being used, which is broadly called biotechnology
is in fact far more precise, far more predictable, and far more controlled than
many of the older technologies that were used to introduce quality traits into
our crops. So there's a far greater degree of predictability and precision
in our current methods of introducing these valuable traits into crop plants.
For all of those crops that we have developed
over the last ten thousand years,
most of those crops in fact do not need pre-approval before they're
commercialized.
So the modern products of crop biotechnology are more thoroughly tested
than any crops in the history of agriculture.
In fact, for any one of these products to get through
commercialization,
they have to undergo about ten to fifteen years of research.
And this research is overseen by
major regulatory agencies throughout the world. The principal framework
is an organization called CODEX Alimentarius,
and this is run by the FAO and the World Health Organization to
basically set international standards for quality control in food products.
And under this international regulatory structure, the
U.S. has three principal agencies that look out for our health:
and that is: the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the US Environmental Protection Agency,
and the US Food and Drug agencies. All of the food crops that we eat are
actually made up of genes
that code for proteins that provide this structure for these crop products.
So everyday when you eat your fruits and your veggies, you are using
proteins and DNA and other nucleic acids.
So these genes actually provide the blueprint
that designs the specific qualities that are in your food crops.
And these have been assessed for safety
by all of the regulatory agencies to ensure that the products that you eat
from biotechnology sources are as safe
as any of the conventionally produced crop products.
DNA is the blueprint that provides the information that allows
crops to produce fruits and vegetables that we eat.
These are the basic building blocks that actually code for
the structures that provide the nutrients that we need to
survive and thrive.
So DNA and genes are in all food.
And in fact using modern techniques we are much more capable
of determining exactly what genes code
for exactly what proteins
and what specific traits we want.
So all of the genes that are introduced into crop plants to
produce these novel valuable traits are tested to ensure that they are safe.
So the type of tests that are done are specifically to look for such issues as
potential allergens, or toxins, or anti-nutrients.
So all of these crops that are produced using modern biotechnology
techniques are very thoroughly assessed over
a ten to fifteen year period.
And the types of research that's done is looking into the source of the
gene: what this gene codes for, basically the products of this gene,
and the types of concerns that would be looked at would be the potential for
allergenicity, toxicity and anti-nutrients.
And in no instance does any product go forward
where there is any concern under any of those issues.
So there are various regulatory agencies in all of the countries where these
products have been approved.
And there is also a worldwide authority where you
basically get consensus across the various methods that are used
to test for these types of concerns. So the principal international agency
is CODEX Alimentarius, and this was set up
by the FAO and the World Health Organization
to make sure that you had internationally recognized standards and
guidelines for food safety.
The genes that are used to introduce
novel, valuable traits into our crop products have been
thoroughly assessed
by international agencies
and by our own U.S. regulatory agencies. These tests have been validated
by teams of experts all over the world
and these foods are more
thoroughly tested than any in the history of crop
food production.