Religious groups urge action against genetically modified sugar beets

Published: 2008-03-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Religious investors are pressuring food companies that use beet sugar in their products to declare they will not buy sugar made from genetically modified beets. They contend that, while engineered to be more resistant to disease, the beets attract certain weeds that require even stronger herbicides to try and eradicate them. Sugar-beet planting season begins in early April, and the investor groups want the companies' declarations to be made before planting starts to demonstrate that there is a lack of desire for genetically engineered sugar. "We are concerned that consumers are not being given (a) choice," said Leslie Lowe, director of the Energy and Environment Program for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, an umbrella group of Catholic and other denominations' investment arms. The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility has established a Web site, http://dontplantgmobeets.org, which contains information about genetically modified foods, and a letter that can be sent to food, restaurant and beverage companies that rely on beet sugar to make their products.

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