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| GE Free
New Zealand in Food & Environment, 27th May
2005
Food May Be Increasing Antibiotic Resistance
Alarm about increased antibiotic resistance should be a wake-up
call to authorities about the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry
and in GE foods being allowed into New Zealand from overseas.
Vested interests continue to promote the "safe' use of antibiotics
in animal feed and as antibiotic resistant marker genes in GE foods
and are not being brought to task by authorities despite growing
evidence of a complex interaction in micro-organism populations
and inadequate risk-assessment.
The recent decision by Australian and New Zealand Food Authorities
to allow illegal Bt 10 corn to be sold -despite bans overeas- is
an alarming precedent. The Bt10 product is understood to contain
an antibiotic- resitant marker for a specific antibiotic used to
treat meningococcal disease.
For some years medical professionals have called for a halt to use
of such markers destined to be consumed in GE foods by millions
of people.However the approval of exactly this kind of product into
our food shows that authorities are ignoring those warnings.
" It is time for the authorities to get real on ending the
over-use of antibiotics as growth-promoters in animals and as as
the 'cheap' option for markers in GE foods,' says Jon Carapiet from
GE free NZ in food and environment.
"It is foolish to assume such abuses of one of our most important
medical tools can continue without nature and its complex microbial
systems 'biting back'".
Ends
Jon Carapiet 0210 507 681
REFERENCES
GM WATCH daily
http://www.gmwatch.org
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