Good Intentions Are Not Enough

During two years of deliberations by the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, the Europeans and some nongovernmental organizations have trampled United States interests. The participants—including the U.S. delegation—have willfully ignored scientific principles and the basic axiom that the degree of regulatory scrutiny should be proportionate to risk. They have also disregarded the scientific consensus that the new biotechnology…