WHO rethink on genetically modified foods - At last !!!

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Health effects of GM foods need further study, WHO says

6/24/2005- A call by the World Health Organisation for further safety

assessments on using genetically modified (GM) foods should give governments

pause for thought before giving their approval for their wider use of the

technology.

 

 

In a report issued yesterday, the UN body finds that GM foods can increase crop

yield, food quality and the diversity of foods that can be grown in a given area

but warns against rushing to introduce novel types of genes into the food chain.

 

The WHO report further complicates the international dispute over GM foods which

has left multinational companies with having to deal with different sets of

regulations depending on the countries in which they operate.

 

The sale of GM foods has put nations at loggerheads with each other. The EU and

Japan have enacted labelling and traceability requirements for GM food products,

while the US and Canada believe the technology is safe and that such standards

are not necessary. The US, Canada and Argentina have filed cases with the World

Trade Organisation against the EU's requirements.

 

WHO calls for a case-by-case risk assessment of each new GM food on its effects

on human health, on the food chain and on the environment rather than a general

endorsement by governments on the use of the technology to create new types of

crops or animals.

 

WHO notes that pre-market risk assessments have been performed on all GM food

products that are currently marketed. To date, the consumption of GM foods has

not caused any known negative health effects. Currently, evaluations of GM

primarily focus on the ecological and agricultural ramifications and on possible

health effects.

 

"However, some of the genes used to manufacture GM foods have not been in the

food chain before and the introduction of new genes may cause changes in the

existing genetic make-up of the crop," WHO stated in its assessment. "Therefore,

the potential human health effects of new GM foods should always be assessed

before they are grown and marketed, and long-term monitoring must be carried out

to catch any possible adverse effects early."

 

The organisation recommends such evaluations should be widened to include

social, cultural and ethical considerations, to help prevent what WHO calls a

"genetic divide" between groups of countries which do and do not allow the

growth, cultivation and marketing of GM products.

 

"Each country has different prevailing social and economic conditions, and the

people have different histories of what they eat and what food means in their

society," WHO stated. "All of these factors can affect how GM foods will be

regarded, and taking proper account of these concerns will affect the long-term

acceptance or rejection of GM foods and their possible health benefits and

potential risks."

 

There are now 15 international legally-binding instruments and nonbinding codes

of practice addressing aspects of GM organisms. Many developed countries have

established specific pre-market regulatory systems requiring the rigorous

case-by-case risk assessment of GM foods prior to their release. Many developing

countries lack the capacity to implement a similar system, WHO stated.

 

In 2004 about 81m hectares of land was being used to grow GM crops by seven

million farmers in 18 countries, mainly the US, Argentina, Canada, Brazil,

China, Paraguay and South Africa.

 

The first major GM food was introduced on the market in the mid-1990s and paved

the way for the growing of strains of maize, soybeans, rapeseed and cotton. GM

varieties of papaya, potato, rice, squash, sugar beet and tomato have been

released in certain countries. WHO estimates that at the end of 2004 GM crops

covered about four per cent of the total global arable land.

 

Most of the GMOs commercialised so far in developing countries have been

acquired from developed countries and focus on a limited number of traits,

mainly herbicide tolerance and insect pest resistance, and crops such as cotton,

soybean and maize. Research is also underway on GM seafood and animals.

 

Many food-processing aids, such as enzymes, produced through the use of GM

microorganisms have been on the market for over a decade and are used in a wide

variety of processed foods. No live GM food microorganisms have been introduced

onto the market yet, WHO stated.

 

Current EU requires that all food be tracked and labelled if it contains 0.9 per

cent or more traceable GM content, along with derivatives such as paste and

ketchup from a GM tomato. Products derived from GM processing aids, such as GM

enzymes or yeast, are not affected. Inciting strong criticism from environmental

groups, this year a panel of scientists at the European Food Safety Authority

(EFSA) cleared a variety of genetic maize known as 1507 for cultivation. Maize

1507 is made jointly by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont,

and Mycogen seeds, a Dow AgroSciences unit.

 

Biotechnology, in its technical sense, refers to plant and animal farming

techniques that alter living organisms to make or modify food products. There

are many possible products from transgenic plants, plant parts, and processed

foodstuffs, including highly refined substances such as vegetable oil containing

little or no detectable transgene-derived protein or DNA.

 

Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, governments will signal whether or

not they are willing to accept imports of agricultural commodities that include

GMOs by communicating their decision via an Internet-based Biosafety Clearing

House.