| GE Free
New Zealand in Food & Environment, 06th September
2004
Breaches Undermine Public and Investor Confidence in GM regulators
Recent incidents where GM regulations have been breached will only
further weaken public confidence in the process supposed to protect
the food we eat.
Lack of the correct signals from government also undermines appropriate
investment in the biotechnology sector. Investment needs to be channelled
to ethical applications that can be properly controlled or they
will fail to find acceptance either by the public or our markets.
In the last
few months it has been shown that there is a cavalier attitude by
some scientists, who have overtly disregarded safety controls on
their experiments put in place by the regulatory authorities.
In April ERMA
was notified that an experimental transgenic potato crop had been
harvested by mechanical methods that contravened the controls placed
on the experiment. The result of this mechanical harvesting was
to spread the buffer plants outside the containment facility.
"Crop and
Food deliberately contravened control 11, an ERMA ruling. This cavalier
and shoddy attitude seriously undermines their claims of caution
and responsible scientific practice" said Claire Bleakley of
GE Free NZ in food and environment.
The Food Safety Authority have also recently admitted it did not
require important evidence on BT11 corn, and approved it without
looking at the animal feeding results. However in April this year
the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported that a 90-day feeding
trial by Monsanto showed differences in rats fed MON863, compared
with those fed conventional corn.
The effects
included:
significant increases in white blood cells in males;
reduced levels of immature red blood cells in females;
significant increases in blood sugar in females; and,
increased abnormalities such as degeneration or inflammation in
the
kidneys of male rats.
Monsanto knew
of the data but kept quiet about it.
"How can
the public trust any company who wants to hide such significant
data?" says Claire Bleakley. "Companies need to be bought
to account. It is time the government signalled to those wanting
to invest in biotechnology that they must focus on sustainable GE
Free production and ethical uses of biotechnology in containment."
ENDS:
Claire Bleakley (06) 3089842
References"
Issue #57 of the ERMA "The Bulletin" (l July to 3l July
04) on p. 37 (under "Inquiries into Incidents & Emergencies"
Application Code GMF98008 Applicant New Zealand Institute for Crop
&
Food Research Ltd "during a post-harvest inspection, MAF reported
that 3
potato plants were found several metres outside the boundary of
one of the trial sites.
The plants found were identified as buffer plants (nonGM) used in
the field test
and were thought to have been dragged away from the containment
site by the
cultivation method used.
http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/appfiles/execsumm/pdf/gmf98008-003.pdf
1.Food watchdog
to recheck GM corn 03 September 2004
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/print/0,1478,3022279a11,00.html
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