The United Nations body charged with developing guidelines for food safety agreed last month on global guidelines for risk assessment of genetically modified foods.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission—a subsidiary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization—"agreed in principle" that the safety of food derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be tested and approved by governments before entering the market. The group stressed that particular attention should be given to testing GMO foods for their potential to cause allergic reactions.
"International agreement on how to perform risk assessment of genetically modified foods will help all countries, especially developing countries," said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The marketing of genetically modified foods has sparked controversy, particularly in Europe and the United States, where critics charge that such products have not been proven safe. However, the United Nations Development Programme noted in its Human . . . [Full Text of this Article]
