Call it an amazing win for the eco-warriors. The USDA has issued a moratorium on new genetically engineered food while it reviews the process that certifies them AOK for the public. It seems there have been enough disasters, like the monarch butterflies killed by toxic corn pollen, to startle even the keepers of the biotech industry.

  "Regulations in place for genetically engineered crops are weak and inadequate." There is not sufficient testing to protect the public and the environment from potential harmful effects of genetically engineered crops. The National Research Council, which helps advise the federal government on scientific issues, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must rigorously review new genetically engineered, or transgenic, plants before approving them for commercial use.

   The potential environmental effects of these new bioengineered foods must be explored in more detail. The public should be more involved in the review process and ecological testing and monitoring should continue after transgenic plants have been introduced to the natural world.

   "The report is a good start in terms of highlighting some of the problems that biotech crops pose and holes in regulatory system," said the nonprofit Genetically Engineered Food Alert Coalition. The group has consistently monitered how the government handles approvals for transgenic crops.

   One of the issues of most concern to critics of transgenic crops is plants engineered to produce pesticides, which could potentially harm or kill non-target organisms or allow pests to develop immunity to the pesticide.

   "Large scale planting might cause environmental effects or impact non-target organisms in ways that could go undetected in the pre-commercialization testing phase," the committee noted. Field monitoring will require the development of an independently funded program involving both government agencies and academic scientists.

   The Genetically Engineered Food Alert Coalition has called on the USDA to announce a moratorium on any new field trials and on commercial deregulation of new transgenic crops until the agency conducts more thorough research and institutes tougher regulations.

   While the NRC committee called on government to improve the regulation of transgenic plants, it also noted that the current level of regulation for such plants is higher than for other agricultural products and practices. Yet the committee did not find any strict distinctions between the types of environmental risks posed by plants genetically engineered through modern molecular techniques and those modified by conventional breeding practices.

   There is typically no formal assessment of potential environmental effects of newly introduced crop varieties produced by conventional breeding. The committee said there is no immediate need to regulate conventionally bred crops, but warned that their potential environmental effects should be reevaluated.

   "With few exceptions, the environmental risks that will accompany future novel plants cannot be predicted," concluded the NRC.

  The US moratorium comes as a second big blow to companies like Monsanto and Novartis, who wish to sell their products in Europe and around the world. In 1998 six EU governments, led by France, said they would not allow any new Frankenfoods into the 15-nation bloc until tougher rules on testing, labelling and tracing were adopted.

   The French lawmakers said current rules on GMOs did not offer complete health guarantees for consumers and the agency raised questions about the possible side-effects of long-term exposure to such products.

   ``It is essential that precautions be taken to limit as much as possible any risks of allergies to transgenic products.'' The agency noted that while GMOs were tested to see if they caused immediate allergic reactions, it was necessary to test laboratory animals to determine whether there were any long-term effects from eating gene-spliced crops. ``Only such tests will show potential effects of prolonged exposure on vital systems -- notably the immune, hormonal and reproductive systems,'' the agency said.

  

  Learn more about this story at ENN.