Velucci Calls for Food Labels

Alfred E. Vellucci, gadfly turned mayor turned gadfly again, may be out of office, but he still loves the political spotlight.

Vellucci--who once formally proposed that Harvard Yard be turned into a parking lot--submitted a resolution to the Cambridge city council last week.

The resolution calls for grocery stores and restaurants to label foods which have been genetically engineered.

Vellucci called The Crimson early last week to emphasize that his resolution would apply to the Harvard Faculty Club.

"Genetically engineered foods raise a number of very serious questions regarding human health, environmental safety and ethical implications," Vellucci wrote in the resolution.

Vellucci has long had an interest in plants and animals. In fact, he has battled for years with the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-exclusive Bow St. social club which used to publish a so-called humor magazine, over frequent attempts by the 'Poonsters to kill the Liberty Tree in front of their castle.

In submitting his most recent petition, Vellucci enclosed a letter issued in 1993 by the Pure Food Campaign, an organization calling for regulation of genetically engineered foods.

"Genetically engineered foods contain genetic material from dissimilar plants, animals, viruses and bacteria, or contain synthetically produced genetic material to confer certain characteristics desirable to the food producers," the letter said.

Genetically engineered foods can be as exotic as tomatoes with flounder genes, corn with firefly genes or potatoes with wax moth genes.

"I am one of the victims," Vellucci said in an interview last week. "I have been using Coffee Mate milk for years. I've been told that some of that milk has been genetically engineered. I don't know how they make that milk."

No Comment

It is uncertain how the council will react to Velluci's proposal. City council members could not be reached for comment.

But apparently, the general public shares Vellucci's view.

In a poll taken in July 1992, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 85 percent of Americans felt it was "very important" to label genetically engineered foods.

According to the Pure Food Campaign, adding new genes to plants and animals may create highly toxic or allergy-inducing foods.

A fact sheet issued by the campaign says that 31 deaths and more than 1500 serious illnesses "have been attributed to a genetically engineered amino acid called L-tryptophan." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failed to regulate the sale of the product because it was not labeled as "genetically engineered," the sheet charges.

Environmentalists fear genetic engineering will pollute native plant and animal species. Vegetarians and religious observers fear they may eat vegetables tainted with genes from animals.

But scientists, politicians and the FDA have a different perspective on the issue.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Scientists overwhelmingly agree that there is nothing inherently risky about bio-engineered foods."

Scientists said requiring labels for genetically engineered foods would not only be irrelevant to nutrition and health but it also would stymie advancement in the field of genetics, according to the Chronicle.

If Cambridge passes Velluci's proposal, the city will not be alone. In August, Chicago's city council unanimously passed an ordinance 15-0 requiring the labeling of genetically altered food.

New York City drafted a similar bill in March.