Madam, - We welcome debate on genetically engineered food and, in particular, the letter from Philip Dix (May 23rd), in reply to my article of May 17th.
It is not possible to discuss exhaustively all experiments and data in the short space of a newspaper article, and the primary purpose of my piece was to draw attention to the lack of knowledge about the risks of genetically engineered crops and foods. Mr Dix's comments do not engage with this point; he tries to sidestep the issue by pointing to a slight inaccuracy. I should have said bacterial, not viral, vectors were used, but the point about random and uncontrolled integration remains. Genetic engineering of plants is not a precise technique. Viral, bacterial and plant sequences are included in the transferred material.
Furthermore, there may be many unknown health risks associated with the genes for herbicide resistance and resistance to pests in the pipeline of products to come. If these are allowed to enter our food chain without questions asked, and without proper data on their environmental and nutritional impact, they could have damaging effects.
The central point of my article remains: that reputable and independent scientists have expressed serious concerns about the effects of genetically engineered foods on animals in research projects. I also pointed out that we have not undertaken any testing of the impact of genetically engineered foods on humans and we do not have any established validation procedures by which we can deduce that such food is safe. - Yours, etc,
ELIZABETH CULLEN, Irish Doctors' Environmental Association, Thomastown, Kilcullen, Co Kildare.