杏吧原创

A SURVEILLANCE system to examine whether eating genetically modified foods
has any harmful effects could soon be set up in Britain. Last week, government
advisers on food safety asked ministers to approve an 18-month pilot study. The
Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) hopes this will reveal
practical options for running a larger surveillance scheme.

The rationale is to study links between health problems and the consumption
of GM foods in different regions. If doctors report a spate of unusual allergies
where there is heavy consumption of GM foods, for example, detailed
epidemiological studies could then establish whether a particular type of GM
food was to blame.

However, at its meeting last week the ACNFP ruled out using one potential
source of information鈥攔ecords of food bought by individual consumers under
the 鈥渓oyalty card鈥� schemes run by many retailers, which reward regular customers
with discounts on future purchases. Committee members felt this would be an
unacceptable invasion of privacy.

John Godfrey, vice-chairman of Consumers in Europe, is pleased with the
ACNFP鈥檚 plan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an extra precaution I would have thought would be in the
public interest,鈥� he says.

But whether it will be possible, in practice, to trace any health effects
linked to GM foods is unclear. Many processed foods include only tiny amounts of
GM ingredients. And most British consumers are avoiding GM foods.