March 5, 2002
		Biotech Safeguards Inadequate A report released by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released on February 21 found that the government's system for regulating genetically engineered crops is inadequate to prevent environmental damage from new types of vaccine- and chemical-producing crops coming to market in the next few years. The NAS concluded that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should more stringently review genetically engineered crops before approving them for commercial use and monitor them more closely after approval. Though the NAS has said that there is no evidence that genetically modified corn and soybeans have harmed the environment, without "systematic monitoring, the lack of evidence of damage is not necessarily lack of damage." One example of biotech plants currently being tested is corn is spliced with chicken genes. The report said that the USDA must be more rigorous when calculating the environmental risk of these plants and make the information more readily available to the public. Furthermore, NAS recommended that the USDA seek outside scientific peer review of crop applications and advice on changes in regulatory policy. In addition, the USDA should more actively solicit public comment, according to the NAS report. Biotechnology companies currently submit about 1,000 applications to the USDA each year for review, and this information is kept from the public by classifying the material as business secrets. The same data is made public in Canada and Europe. The USDA is supposed to safeguard the environment by ensuring that gene-altered crops don't evolve into super-weeds or harm insects and other animals Under current guidelines, however, companies can field-test crops just by informing the USDA that the plant meets its specifications on environmental effects. Once these crops are approved , they generally can be grown anywhere in any amount growers choose. Officals from the USDA claim to have begun working on some of the "small loopholes" found in the report.