Report on Impacts of Genetically Engineered Food

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that our Board review the Company's policies for food products containing genetically engineered (GE) ingredients and report to shareholders by March 2004. This report, developed at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, will identify: risks, financial costs (including opportunity costs) and benefits, and environmental impacts of continued use of GE-ingredients in food products sold or manufactured by the company.

We urge that this report:
1) Identify the scope of the Company's products that are derived from or contain GE ingredients;
2) Outline a contingency plan for sourcing non-GE ingredients should circumstances so require.

We believe that with this review, Brinker addresses issues of financial, legal and reputation risk, competitive advantage and brand name loyalty in the marketplace.

Supporting Statement:

· A report commissioned by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology (4/2003) "casts doubt on the preparedness of the current postmarket oversight program to achieve its traditional objectives, including the enforcement of regulatory restrictions and the detection and correction of unanticipated health or environmental problems.

· Crops engineered to produce pharmaceuticals/industrial chemicals could pollute the food system. Fearing that pollen from corn not approved for human consumption may have spread to nearby fields of ordinary corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered 155 acres of Iowa corn uprooted and incinerated (9/2002); 500,000 bushels of soybeans in Nebraska were quarantined due to contamination by small amounts of a test pharmaceutical/industrial crop (11/2002).

· The National Food Processors Association has stated (11/2002): "There is an unacceptable risk to the food supply associated with the use of food and feed crops as 'factories' for the production of pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals without mandatory regulations and necessary verification in place."

· The Grocery Manufacturers of America has called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement stronger regulations for pharmaceuticals crops to ensure the safety and integrity of the U.S. food supply (2/2003).

· FDA does not assure the safety of GE products; it is the developer's responsibility to assure that the food is safe. The FDA lacks both the authority and the information to adequately evaluate the safety of GE foods. (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1/2003),

· In December 2002, StarLink corn, not approved for human consumption, was detected in a U.S. corn shipment to Japan. StarLink was first discovered to have contaminated U.S. corn supplies in September 2000, triggering a recall of 300 products.

· Many of Europe's larger food retailers [J.Sainsbury (UK), Carrefour, (France's largest retailer), Migros (Switzerland, the country's largest food chain), Delhaize (Belgium), Marks and Spencer (UK), Superquinn (Ireland) and Effelunga (Italy)] have committed to removing GE ingredients from their store-brand products.

· The National Academy of Sciences report (8/2002) Animal Biotechnology: Science-Based Concerns (p.14) cautions that the current regulatory system is inadequate to address "potential hazards, particularly in the environmental area." Research reported in Ecology Letters (March 2003) indicates that Bt crops could have unanticipated nutritionally favorable effects on pests, indicating a need for further ecological and biochemical studies.
498 words excluding title 5-5-03

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