Team:British Columbia/humanpractices/GMOTimeline

<li>Biologist Rudolf Jaenisch creates the first genetically modified animal, a transgenic mouse, by introducing foreign DNA into a mouse embryo.  

<li>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first genetically engineered drug Humulin, a form of human insulin produced by recombinant E. coli bacteria. Prior to the development of synthesized human insulin, patients were dependent on animal insulin, which was more costly, less accessible, and sometimes caused infection. Humulin is identical in chemical structure to human insulin.

<li>After the delivery of unlabelled genetically engineered soybeans from the US to European ports, Greenpeace-led activists protest in front of multinational food companies across Europe. As media attention intensifies, Austria and Italy refuse GMO imports and France suspends all GMO imports until regulatory legislation can be reviewed.  

<li>The FDA Modernization Act is signed into law and streamlines the FDA’s procedures relating to the regulation of food, drugs, devices and biological products. Critics fear the legislation will encourage more crop deregulation.  

<li>Monsanto introduces Roundup Ready corn and canola which are promised to increase crop yields over conventional varieties. Twenty years later, studies show this not to be the case.

<li>Mounting environmental and health concerns surrounding GM crops in Europe leads big food manufacturers to commit to removing all Genetically Modified ingredients in EU products. Major food chains in England including Sainsbury, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Burger King and McDonalds also announce their intention to avoid all GM ingredients.</li>

<li>The EU adopts regulation that even additives and flavoring must be specifically labeled if DNA or protein of GMO origin is present in the final product.

 

 

<li>The FDA announces that the labeling of GM foods would remain voluntary, but also publishes guidelines for companies that wished to label their products as free of GM products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also promises to develop standardized tests for GM foods.

<li>GloFish, a GM fluorescent fish first developed in 1999, is introduce to the U.S. market after being available in Taiwan earlier in 2003. Since their introduction, there have been no reports of any ecological concerns associated with their sale, though they are illegal in California due to a regulation that bans all genetically modified fish. They are also banned in Canada and within the EU.

 

<li>Greenpeace praises the Eu for adopting the world’s strictest and most comprehensive rules on GMOs. The new system requires that all GE ingredients – from consumer products to animal feed – be traced and labeled.  

<li>Mendocino County in California is the first jurisdiction to ban the cultivation, production and distribution of GMOs in the US. Today, 14 states including California have proposals to require the labeling to GM foods.

<li>The EU imposes an unofficial ban on GMO-based products, refusing to engage in experimental or commercial growth of new gene crops and to import GM food products. The World Trade Organization is currently due to rule if this unofficial ban restricted trade.