The Alliance for Better Foods has launched a new website providing fact-based information about how biotechnology benefits agriculture and food (www.betterfoods.org). The alliance is a coalition of 26 organizations—including the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), the USA Rice Federation, and the American Soybean Association—and the website reflects the perspective of not only the food industry, but also farmers, retailers, and growers.

As well as consumers, the site is aimed at policy makers and regulators who may not be familiar with the history of food biotech—to help remind people that GM food is not new and that the safety processes have been in place for several years, according to Brian Sansoni, GMA senior manager of public policy communications. "Those who put out the misinformation and smear campaigns are sometimes very good at what they do, and are clearly trying to replicate what they did in Europe...it's important to provide a reasonable foundation for good information and a forum for questions and answers," he says.

Sansoni adds that GMA fully supports the current labeling policy setup by FDA. "It's science based and it's quite reasonable in providing truthful, not misleading, information."