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Frito-Lay to Growers:
‘no more genetically altered corn’
“We’re stepping back and waiting,” said Lynn Markley, company spokeswoman. Frito-Lay, one of America’s top snack makers, is asking growers not to sell the company Bt corn. Markley said Frito-Lay buys one-fourth of 1% - 1.2 billion pounds of the total corn crop in the United States. The American Farm Bureau Federation, which believes biotechnology can produce larger and more nutritious crops, accused Frito-Lay of overreacting to anti-biotech activists. “This was a business decision,” Markley responded, adding the decision wasn’t due to any pressure from environmental groups, but because Frito-Lay is a consumer products company. Markley noted that the Food and Drug Administration, which previously ruled that biotech foods are safe to eat, has been holding hearings in the past several months. Greenpeace, a group that lobbied Frito-Lay’s parent company, PepsiCo to stop using biotech crops in its products, applauded the decision by Frito-Lay. United Nations talks in Montreal in January produced complex rules governing trade of genetically engineered products. The rules include language that lets a country ban imports of a genetically modified product if officials feel there is a lack of scientific evidence proving its safety. Scientists create biotech crops by splicing the genes of plants and inserting genetic material from other organisms to make bigger, hardier and tastier crops. Farm groups say genetically altered crops use less pesticide while critics say weeds and pests would eventually adapt and would require stronger and more environmentally dangerous weapons to kill them. About one-third of the corn grown in the United States last year was genetically altered, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Markley said Frito-Lay’s position on altered crops does not apply to potatoes as there currently are no genetically modified potatoes used for chipping. Frito-Lay’s action follows that of Gerber and Heinz, two companies that announced last summer they would stop using genetically modified ingredients in baby food, even though they believe the ingredients are safe. |
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