High Tech Food Fight

Mark (markl@buylocalfood.com)
Tue, 02 Nov 1999 14:37:16 -0500

More than two dozen Washington trade associations eager to promote wider
public acceptance of genetically altered food have formed the Alliance for
Better Foods. The group's members include the American Farm Bureau
Federation, the American Meat Institute, the Food Distributors
International and the National Food Processors Association. The group,
which was cooked up earlier this month, is focusing on public relations
rather than lobbying, said Stephen Gaskill, a spokesman for the group. The
coalition, he added, operates out of the Washington office of BSMG
Worldwide, a New York City-based PR firm. "Biotech food has such promise,
and the science is so sound, that we wanted to ensure that products were
not derailed by opposition before people have a real chance to understand
what this is and what it can do," Gaskill said.

The Alliance for Better Foods joins another group - the International Food
Information Council - which has worked on public education about biotech
food since 1985. Both groups face continuing criticism of genetically
altered foods from, among other organizations, Greenpeace and Consumers
Union. Exemplifying the influence of such foes, Greenpeace convinced
Gerber Products CO. earlier this year to keep genetically engineered
products out of its baby foods, according to Charles Margulis, a specialist
in genetic-engineering issues for Greenpeace in Washington.

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