GM food - is it safe or not?

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GM food - is it safe or not? By Sheena Adams Bloemfontein - Ground-breaking new trials using both animals and human cells to test the safety of genetically modified food products will begin soon at the country's only GM testing facility in the Free State.Also called Frankenfoods, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been the subject of a raging worldwide debate for several years, with scientists divided over how safe they are to consume.Many agree that while tests have so far failed to show conclusively that GMOs are bad for your health, no long-term tests have ever been attempted.The project by the GMO testing facility at the University of the Free

State has been described as the first "generational study", and will see scientists feeding a diet of GMO maize and soya beans to families of rats, mice and lambs over several years. The head of the facility, Professor Chris Viljoen, said this would be the first study of its kind in the world, but results would not be forthcoming for at least three years. Raging worldwide debateHe added that the large-scale study was still dependent on the facility finding donors to fund the project, which he hoped to begin early next year. "A lot of research we are funding ourselves, because the whole issue regarding GMOs is an emotional one. The fact that we are a facility that does testing means most people consider us to be anti-GM - it's actually quite ironic - and

because of that, there are a number of scientists in South Africa who don't think what we are doing is important," Viljoen said.State-sponsored bodies such as the National Research Foundation had so far turned down proposals for funding into GMOs.GMO watchdog Biowatch has meanwhile welcomed the announcement, saying GM products were "sneaking into our food chain" in the absence of compulsory separation and labelling of GM products.GM crops have been in South Africa since 1997 and the country is one of only eight around the world which grow the crops commercially. 'Emotional' issueIt is estimated that about 50% of South Africa's soya crop is genetically modified, as well as about 10% of its white maize crop, 24% of its yellow maize and

about 85% of its cotton.However, tests conducted by Viljoen's team at the beginning of this year on randomly selected soya and maize products on supermarket shelves showed that 90% of soya products and 61% of maize products tested contained traces of GMOs.These included products like Ace, Blue Bird and Impala maize meal, Snowflake self-raising flour and the Old El Paso Taco Kit - none of which were labelled as containing GMOs. The Department of Health published regulations pertaining to genetically modified food in 2004, making it mandatory for products containing GMOs to be labelled as such if it "differs significantly in composition, nutritional value, mode of storage, preparation or cooking" from its corresponding organic product.However, Biowatch has pointed out that a "significant difference" is defined in the regulations as existing only where characteristics are different in terms of a scientific assessment of an "appropriate analysis

of data". This means, in their view, that the regulations are in no way compulsory.While Woolworths has undertaken in the past to remove all GMO products from its shelves, other large retailers have not followed suit.Health Department spokesperson Solly Mabotha acknowledged that the regulations did not do enough to ensure compulsory labelling and said new draft regulations which would ensure this were at "an advanced stage".Viljoen's team will be looking for things such as whether the GMOs elicit immune responses in animals, anatomical changes such as abnormalities in the intestinal tract, weight loss or gain, and reproductive health."I am often perceived as being anti-GM because I'm asking questions… That becomes perceived as anti-GM because there seems to be a real fear that accepting or rejecting GM is about accepting or rejecting science, and it's not," Viljoen said.He added that the trials would ensure that if South Africa wants

to license a GMO for commercial use in the future, the country would have the methodology necessary for the stringent, compulsory testing.He found it "astounding" that, several years after opening shop, his GMO facility was still the only one in the country. This article was originally published on page 9 of The Star on April 15, 2006 Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-04-15 08:51:00 © Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains. "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit."

- Aurobindo.

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