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Reuters
March 31/00
You Say GM Tomato
SAN DIEGO - U.S. agribusiness must, according to this story, choose
its
words carefully when stepping into the fray over biofoods.
David Schmidt, vice president of the International Food Information
Council, was cited as saying that much like "pasteurization"
is preferable
over the menacing-sounding "irradiation" to refer to a treatment
to kill
food bacteria, agribusiness and farm groups should try to use "biotech"
in
place of "genetically modified organisms," adding that, "The
terminology
has been overlooked. It really is important to consumers how we refer
to
this."
Schmidt, who addressed the annual meeting of the National
Grain and Feed Assocation, was cited as saying that a series of recent
public opinion surveys show that Americans have not turned against
gene-spliced
corn, soybeans, tomatoes and other foods the way European consumers have,
adding, "There is still an opportunity to communicate to American
consumers in the right way,"
The story adds that the U.S. industry is preparing to launch a campaign
to
educate the American public on the benefits of bioengineered foods and
try
to counter critics who say not enough is known about their long-term effects
on health and the environment.
"Biotech foods should not be conveyed as a revolution to
consumers because that is not very reassuring to them," he
said.
In recognition of that consumer view, the food council uses
a reproduction of a Cezanne painting of lush, attractive fruits
on its information booklets and materials, rather than a an
edgier graphic design of a super-sized cornstalk and other
crops that the group first commissioned, he said.
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