FDA warns universities over studies involving transgenic animals

FDA warns universities over studies involving transgenic animals

Following a February incident in which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accused a major US university with failure to document whether experimental animals had entered the human food supply, the FDA wrote to 70 universities reminding them to comply with the agency's regulations on transgenic animals. The letter says that university scientists may need to file an application with the agency before pursuing such studies. It notes that the agency has not allowed transgenic animals to be used for human consumption to date and only in limited cases has allowed such animals to be used to make animal feed.

University scientists have led the way in the young but growing field of transgenic-animal research, but to date such experiments have not led to these commercial products. Biotechnology watchdog groups have called for tighter government oversight of the studies, arguing that transgenic animals might cause human health problems if they wind up in the food supply or are made into food for other animals.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, June 6, 2003, Vol. 49, Issue 39, page A4