To the Editor: Last year over 70 million acres of genetically engineered (GE) crops were grown in the United States. I am deeply concerned with the way these ingredients have been sneaked into the food on my grocery store shelves without proper safety testing. Has the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fallen asleep at the wheel? Or have the special interest groups pressured them to look the other way? Upwards of two-thirds of all processed food on store shelves contains genetically engineered ingredients yet the FDA does not require safety testing of these foods.

American food companies such as Kellogg’s and Campbell’s have agreed to not use GE ingredients in their European products but still do so in this country. Over 80% of Americans want these foods labeled, so they can avoid them. Food companies should respect consumers’ wishes and remove genetically engineered ingredients from their products until they have been safety tested and labeled for consumer health, just like any other food additive. The British Medical Association has called for a ban of genetically engineered food ingredients until further research into potential health and environmental impacts is conducted. Why then are American consumers being used as guinea pigs in Kellogg’s and Campbell’s science experiments?