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dg Food Security
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/foodsecurity/rc/ItemDetail.do?itemId=1112231
Global Food Security and Sustainable Development
Today’s panel discussion was a valuable contribution to the worldwide dialog on the role of biotechnology in addressing food security and sustainable development. Consumers worldwide rightly want to ensure the safety of the foods they eat. The United States has a strong and science-based food safety system which is widely respected worldwide. Due in large measure to our productive agricultural sector the United States has become the largest and most reliable source of food aid worldwide. We provide, through our food aid programs, the safe and nutritious food eaten daily, and for years, by millions of Americans. Nonetheless, we continue to hear concerns about the safety of foods derived from biotechnology and about the United States’ system for overseeing the safety of biotech foods for human consumption. To help answer these questions, and to place them in the broader context of the challenge of global hunger and food security the United Nations Development Program, the Partnership to Cut Hunger in Africa and the United States Government brought together a panel of international biotechnology experts.
The U.S. Regulatory Process: Under a policy developed in 1986, three lead federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have legislative responsibility for implementing the nation’s biotechnology regulatory framework. Within this framework, the U.S. regulatory process is constantly being reassessed and refined for all foods, both bioengineered and traditional. The United States has more than a decade of experience in regulating bioengineered foods. About 50 varieties of bioengineered food crops have gone through the procedures of the U.S. government regulatory agencies; and thousands of foods containing ingredients from these bioengineered crops are currently on the U.S. market. There are five procedures that occur from the time a scientist has an idea for a potentially marketable bioengineered plant product to when the product finally ends up in the local food market: pre-submission discussions, field trials notifications or permits, petitioning USDA-APHIS for “non-regulated status”, EPA regulation of crops with pest control properties, and FDA review of food and feed safety.
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US Department of State
http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/othr/2002/13693.htm
Global Food Security and Sustainable Development
Synopsis of Panel Discussion, “Global Food Security and Sustainable Development: How to Improve Performance and Tap the Potential of Agricultural Biotechnology”
United Nations, New York, New York
September 19, 2002
Released by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations
