Consumer Pressure Forces Gerber Baby Foods to
Eliminate GE Corn & Soybeans from US Products
Headline: Baby Food Maker Cautious on Grain
Wire Service: APO (AP Online)
Date: Fri, Jul 30, 1999

SUMMIT, N.J. (AP) -- The maker of Gerber baby food is dropping suppliers
who use genetic engineering in their corn and soybean products, the
company's chief executive officer confirmed today.
The move by Novartis follows a request from the environmental group
Greenpeace for information on the company's use of bioengineered products.
The company was evaluating their use before then, said Al Piergallini,
president and CEO of its North American consumer health division, based in
Summit.
Novartis plans to drop some of the company's grain suppliers this summer
in favor of producers who do not use gene alteration to make corn and
soybeans resistant to pests and weedkilling chemicals.
Those ingredients account for less than 2 percent of Gerber's products,
mainly dry cereal, Piergallini said.
Greenpeace fears possible health risks associated with genetically
engineered foods, though Novartis officials said they still believe their
existing Gerber products are safe.
Novartis said it was turning to other suppliers anyway, and is taking
its changes a step further by adding a new promise to try to use only
organic -- pesticide- and herbicide-free -- ingredients in Gerber products.
"We want a mother to buy our product and have no concerns," Piergallini
said. "We've always tried to figure out if there were any concerns that
troubled those people."
Two other baby-food makers, H.J. Heinz Co. of Pittsburgh and Poway,
Calif.-based Healthy Time Natural Foods, have made similar product changes
in response to the Greenpeace concerns.
The move by Novartis was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that, so far, it has
found no particular health problems with genetically modified agricultural
products, concluding that they "are as safe as other foods in the grocery
store."
The British Medical Association has expressed concerns about possible
ill health effects from bioengineered ingredients. European fears of
genetic engineering have led to a trade dispute over importing of U.S.
agricultural products.
Greenpeace makes no particular claims that genetically modified foods
are dangerous to humans or the environment, arguing simply that the health
risks are unknown.
"Some of the effects may be subtle," a supporter of the Greenpeace
campaign, Boston pediatric neurologist Martha Herbert, told the Journal.
"The problem with studying this is that the effects may be long-term."
Greenpeace activists also demand label information about such content.
Gerber is exploring its labeling options for its new organic products.
Gerber is the nation's largest maker of baby food, producing 5.5 million
jars per day and annual worldwide sales of $1 billion.