| GE Free
New Zealand in Food & Environment, 03rd May
2005
EU bans Illegal Corn As NZ Authorities Approve It
The Food Standards Authority
is wrong to be giving the OK to illegal and unapproved Bt10 maize
accidentally shipped from the US for almost four years.
It is concerning that Food Standards Australia New Zealand have
given the illegal maize the OK rather than following best-practice
standards applied in Europe aimed at preserving the integrity of
the system and public confidence.
In stark contrast
to the EU which has banned shipments of contaminated products, NZ
authorities have decided no action needs to be taken other than
to approve the corn "after the fact" because it is similar
to another GE product. NZ authorities also deem the presence of
anti-biotic resistance genes to be immaterial, despite independent
medical and scientific advice to the contrary.
"Our authorities are letting the country down by not taking
this seriously," says Jon Carapiet from GE Free NZ in food
and environment.
" The issue is one of maintaining standards and ensuring a
rigorous system that can cope with accidents, mistakes or even sabotage.
The EU appears to have a system that works. Unfortunately we do
not."
It is unacceptable for Authorities to ignore serious issues raised
by the public and independent scientists, and greet them with a
wall of silence.
How can both the EU and Australia / NZ claim to have world-class
regulatory systems and yet have such different responses to the
same international contamination incident?
More important than the health impact of Bt10 is that the regulatory
system is clearly flawed and subject to potential catastrophic breakdown.
NZ authorities have tried to sweep this issue under the carpet and
want to ignore the larger implications for the system.
The New Zealand Public is asking officials to deliver on past promises
and have in place a system that can track and recall illegal contaminated
foods, and to hold those companies involved accountable.
NZ Authorities have refused to respond to queries about which such
protective measures are in place or need to be put in place. They
have refused to fine the company involved (as the US has done) or
to test product for the illegal corn (as the EU and Asian countries
have done).
Astonishingly, our authorities do not even seem to be checking if
illegal product is still being shipped, or which products on New
Zealand supermarket shelves have been contaminated.
ENDS
Contact Jon Carapiet 0210 507 681
BELOW: The EU Decision and the NZ-Australian "Fact Sheet"
COMMISSION DECISION.././EC
of [.]
on emergency measures regarding the non authorised genetically modified
organism "Bt10" in maize products
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles
and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety
Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety ,
and in particular Article 53(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Articles 4(2) and 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 on genetically
modified (GM) food and feed provide that no genetically modified
food or feed shall be placed on the Community market unless it is
covered by an authorisation granted in accordance with that Regulation.
Articles 4(3) and 16(3) of the same Regulation lay down that no
GM food and feed shall be authorised unless it has been adequately
and sufficiently demonstrated that it does not have adverse effects
on human health, animal health or the environment, that it does
not mislead the consumer or the user, and differ from the food or
feed it is intended to replace to such an extent that its normal
consumption would be nutritionally disadvantageous for humans or
animals.
(2) On 22 March 2004, the authorities of the United States of America
(the US authorities) informed the Commission that maize products
contaminated with the genetically modified organism called "Bt10"
(the contaminated products), which have not been authorised for
placing on the market in the Community, were likely to have been
exported to the Community since 2001 and to continue to be exported.
In addition, these authorities informed the Commission that those
products were not authorised for placing on the market in the United
States of America either.
(3) Without prejudice to the control obligations of the Member States,
the measures to be adopted further to the likely imports of contaminated
products should be subject to a comprehensive and common approach
allowing rapid and effective action to be taken and avoiding disparities
between Member States in the treatment of the situation.
(4) Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 provides for the possibility
to adopt appropriate Community emergency measures for food and feed
imported from a third country in order to protect human health,
animal health or the environment, where the risk can not be contained
satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member States concerned.
(5) Although the contamination of products was reported by Syngenta,
which is the company developing the genetically modified maize "Bt10",
to the US authorities in December 2004, no data enabling a safety
assessment of the genetically modified maize "Bt10" by
the European Food Safety Authority (the Authority) according to
the standards laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 were provided
by Syngenta or the US authorities. According to the Authority ,
in the absence of this information, the safety of "Bt10"
has yet to be confirmed.
(6) Considering the absence of sufficient data enabling a safety
assessment of the genetically modified maize "Bt10" in
order to achieve the high level of health protection chosen in the
Community, and the presumption of risk on products not authorised
according to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003, which takes into account
the precautionary principle laid down in Article 7 of Regulation
(EC) No 178/2002, it is appropriate to take emergency measures in
order to prevent the placing on the market in the Community of the
contaminated products.
(7) According to the general requirements laid down in Regulation
(EC) No 178/2002, food and feed business operators have primary
legal responsibility for ensuring that foods or feeds within the
businesses under their control satisfy the requirements of food
law and for verifying that such requirements are met. The duty to
prove the absence of placing on the market of the contaminated products
should therefore rely on the responsible operator. To this end,
the emergency measures should require that consignments of specific
products originating from the United States of America may be placed
on the market only if an analytical report proving that the products
are not contaminated with the genetically modified maize "Bt10"
is provided. The analytical report should be issued by an accredited
laboratory according to internationally recognised standards.
(8) In order to facilitate controls, all genetically modified food
and feed placed on the market should be subject to a validated method
of detection. Syngenta has been requested to provide the method
for the event-specific detection of the genetically modified maize
"Bt10" as well as control samples. Consequently, the Community
reference laboratory referred to in Article 32 of Regulation (EC)
No 1829/2003 (the CRL) has been asked to test the detection method
for this product on the basis of data provided by Syngenta. The
detection method is made available by Syngenta and can also be found
at the following address: http://gmo-crl.jrc.it
(9) Considering that the measures provided for in this Decision
must be proportionate and no more restrictive of trade than is required,
only products considered as the most likely contaminated with genetically
modified maize "Bt10" should be covered. According to
the information received from the US authorities, neither genetically
modified maize grain nor any product derived therefrom are imported
from the United States of America to the Community, with the exception
of corn gluten feed and brewers grains for feed use. Accordingly,
the latter products should be the subject of the said measures.
(10) Despite requests made by the Commission, the US authorities
were not in a position to provide any guarantee on the absence of
"Bt10" in corn gluten feed and brewers grains containing
or produced from genetically modified organisms, which are imported
in the Community, considering the lack of segregation or traceability
measures in the United States of America on these products.
(11) With regard to food products, according to the information
made available to the Commission, no genetically modified maize
imported from the United States of America is used in the production
of food in the Community. Member States should however monitor whether
genetically modified maize food products are present on the market
and whether these have been contaminated by "Bt10". On
the basis of the information provided by Member States, the Commission
will consider the need of any appropriate measure.
(12) These measures should be evaluated at the latest after 6 months
in order to assess whether they are still necessary.
(13) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance
with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and
Animal Health,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
Scope
This Decision applies to the following products originating from
the United States of America:
- corn gluten feed containing or produced from genetically modified
maize within CN code 2309 9020
- brewers grains containing or produced from genetically modified
maize within CN code 2303 3000.
Article 2
Conditions for first placing on the market
1. Member States shall allow the first placing on the market of
the products referred to in Article 1 only where an original analytical
report issued by an accredited laboratory accompanying the consignment
proves that the product does not contain "Bt10" maize
or feed produced from "Bt10" maize.
2. In the absence of such an analytical report, the operator established
in the Community who is responsible for the first placing on the
market of the product shall have the products referred to in Article
1 tested to prove that they do not contain "Bt10" maize
or feed produced from "Bt10" maize. Pending availability
of the analytical report, the consignment shall not be placed on
the market of the Community.
3. Member States shall inform the Commission of positive (unfavourable)
results through the Rapid Alert System for food and feed.
Article 3
Other control measures
Member States shall take appropriate measures, including random
sampling and analysis, of the products referred to in Article 1
already on the market in order to verify the absence of "Bt10"
maize or feed produced from "Bt10" maize. They shall inform
the Commission of positive (unfavourable) results through the Rapid
Alert System for food and feed.
Article 4
Contaminated consignments
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the
products referred to in Article 1 that are found to contain "Bt10"
maize or feed produced from "Bt10" maize are not placed
on the market.
Article 5
Recovery of costs
Member States shall ensure that the costs incurred in the implementation
of Articles 2 and 4 are borne by the operators concerned.
Article 6
Addressees
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels,
For the Commission
Markos Kyprianou
Member of the Commission
Cathie Humphries- Standards Management Officer Ph: +61 2 6271 2280
Food Standards Australia NZ : www.foodstandards.gov.au
Fact sheet: Release of unapproved genetically modified (GM) corn
(21 April 2005)
A small quantity of a GM corn variety, known as Bt-10, was accidentally
grown and released into the food and animal feed supply in the United
States (US) between 2001 and 2004. Although Bt-10 corn is not approved
for such release in Australia or in other countries including the
US, there is a small chance that some may have been present in animal
feed or processed food exported to Australia during this period.
A large agricultural biotechnology company, Syngenta, is responsible
for inadvertently producing several hundred tonnes of Bt-10 corn
over a four-year period between 2001 and 2004. The accidental distribution
of the unapproved Bt-10 corn, was reported in an article published
in the scientific journal, Nature, on 22 March 2005. Although Syngenta
disclosed the information to the US authorities in late 2004, it
has only recently come to the attention of Australian authorities,
including FSANZ.
According to Syngenta, the amount of seed produced from Bt-10 corn
would have constituted only a very small fraction (0.01%) of the
total corn acreage planted in the US over the four year period.
While unlikely, Syngenta has stated that extremely small amounts
of harvested Bt-10 grain (0.002%) could have been used in animal
feed or in processed food products that may have been exported from
the US to countries including Australia. Australian quarantine controls
require all imports of corn feed to be devitalised and crushed.
The Bt-10 corn is very similar to Bt-11 corn, a genetically modified
corn variety that has been approved for food use in Australia since
August 2001. Bt11 is also approved for import for food and feed
use in the European Union, Switzerland, New Zealand, Taiwan, the
Philippines, China, Russia and Korea.
FSANZ sought and received scientific information relating to Bt-10
corn from Syngenta. This information allowed FSANZ to conduct a
safety assessment of Bt-10 and compare its characteristics to the
approved Bt-11 corn. The two varieties have been modified in the
same way and produce the same novel proteins. The presence of a
non-functional antibiotic resistance marker gene (BLA) in Bt-10
corn, that is not present in Bt-11, has no impact on the safety
of food produced from Bt-10 corn. FSANZ has previously assessed
this marker gene for safety and its use is approved in Australia
for use in a number of food commodities.
FSANZ has concluded that there are no food safety concerns with
corn products imported from the United States since:
The amounts of Bt-10 corn that could have accidentally entered the
food supply in Australia would have been extremely small;
Assessments by both FSANZ and the US regulatory agencies have confirmed
that novel proteins present in Bt-10 are identical to those present
in Bt-11 corn, a fully approved product for animal feed and human
food use in a number of countries around the world, including Europe
and Australia.
FSANZ will be formally contacting Syngenta and other
biotechnology companies to advise them that they are expected to
provide early information on any issues of possible concern regarding
GM foods.
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