John Tierney: “I think the problem I am trying to get at here is that there are a large number of people, and some producers and end…”

“I think the problem I am trying to get at here is that there are a large number of people, and some producers and end users, who are not sure that the method by which we are testing right now, allowing the companies to test and having that then reviewed by the governmental agencies, is enough to give them a level of confidence. I think if NAS did a study to determine that that, in fact, was the best way to proceed, it might lift the level of confidence. If it decided that it was not the best way to proceed and set up a different type of regulatory structure, decided what was going to be the monitoring system that was used to assess the health ramifications, people would have a higher comfort level on that. I note that what the report really said about it was that there was a priority that should be given to the development of improved methods for identifying potential allergens and pest-protected plants, specifically the development of tests with human immune systems end points and of more reliable animal models. So the NAS really does think that there has to be some improvement of the methods. I think this kind of review would be healthy.”