October 5, 2000
		Mandatory Labeleing of Biotech Denied In a September 29 ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed a lawsuit filed by critics of biotechnology who sought to have mandatory labeling on products that contained genetically engineered ingredients. The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of environmental, religious and consumer groups, challenged the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 8-year policy that considers gene-altered seeds to be 'generally regarded as safe' and thus not subject to the same regulatory controls as food additives. Judge Kollar-Kotelly said that biotech opponents failed to prove that the FDA violated procedural and environmental laws in establishing that the policy or agency should mandate labeling of the foods. The anti-biotech coaltion doesn't plan to appeal the ruling, said Andrew Kimbrell, an attorney who handled the lawsuit, which was filed in 1998. They will instead wait to see what rules the FDA proposes for the madnatory reviews. Biotech critics also are likely to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it decides whether to renew registrations for several varieties of genetically engineered corn. This comes after a public embarrassment to both industry and government regulators when it was disclosed several weeks ago that a variety of corn not approved for human consumption was detected in Kraft taco shells. This week, the FDA confirmed that its own tests reached the same findings. The FDA said that it would conduct additional tests of other products.