"S.F. Panel Wants City to Go Organic"
Wednesday, June 21, 2000
San Francisco -- San Francisco city officials yesterday took a bite-sized move toward rejecting genetically engineered foods by urging city purchasers to favor organic food vendors.

The Planning and Policy Committee of the city's Commission on the Enviroment unanimously passed an unusual resolution that urges all city departments to give preferntial treatment to organic food vendors when the city awards catering contracts for special parties and events.

Caterers who avoided genetically engineered food -- known to its foes as "Frankenfood" -- would also get an advantage over competitors.

The resolution, which does not carry the force of law, is likely to pass the full Commission of the Enviroment, sad President Randall Hayes. From there, it must get the approval of the city Board of Supervisors.

The measure won applause from Simon Harris of the Organic Consumers Association. He said scientific testing of engineered foods from the federal Food and Drug Administration has been lax, and the public could be expose to unknown culinary dangers.

The primary goal of the U.S. goverment is to rush these foods to the supermarket shelves as quickly as possible with a minimum amount of testing," he said.

But one lobbyist from the grocery industry said the resolution was overcautious and could hinder the advancement of foods genetically altered to include vaccines and vitamins, creating products that can benefit poor countries.

Efforts like this take the technology a step backward," said Lance Hastings, of the Grocery Manufacturers of America.

The push to label genetically altered food in San Francisco is an outgrowth of a nascent drive to pass similar laws on the State level.

This April In Sacramento, the Senate agricultural commitee rejected a proposal from Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Tom Hayden to require all grocery stores and restaurants in California to label products that had genetically modified ingredients.

Local Representatives from Greenpeace helped shape the language of the proposed resolution, said commission member Parin Shah, adding that similar resolutions have been introduced in Santa Cruz, Berkeley and Boston.

In berkeley, the school district has a policy-mandated goal of serving organic foods in its cafeterias.

San Franciscos resolution would call upon elected city officials to urge the federal goverment to lable genetically engineered foods untill they have been proved safe.