Mysterious Deaths of Cows Fed GE Corn in Germany

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Mysterious Deaths of Cows Fed GE Corn in Germany

 

Cows die mysteriously on farm in Hesse / Germany

Greenpeace Germany

Dec 8, 2003

 

Greenpeace calls for investigation by Robert-Koch Institute, since

cows werefed on GM maize

 

Berlin, 8 Dec. - Fifteen Greenpeace activists are today protesting

with acow's skeleton in front of the Robert-Koch Institute in Berlin.

 

A banner questions the safety of genetically engineered feed. The

protest isbeing made because the institute has not yet clarified the

puzzlingcircumstances, which led to twelve cows dying on a farm in

the state of

Hesse, although it is officially the institute's responsibility to

do so.

 

The animals were fed genetically manipulated maize between 1997 and

2001.

The Robert-Koch Institute is responsible for authorising the GM

maize and

has so far re-fused to instigate further investigations to clarify

what has happened. Greenpeace is calling for a full investigation

into the deaths of the cows and an immediate ban on the GM maize

concerned, the Syngenta company's " bt176 " maize.

 

" The Robert-Koch Institute manages genetic engineering instead of

activelyensuring safety and the scrutiny of its use, " says Henning

Strodthoff,

genetic engineering expert at Greenpeace. " The GM maize should never

havebeen approved. Even the US has now taken it off the market. The

incident in

Hesse again shows how lightly the risks of genetic engineering are

considered. In this situation no new licences for GM plants should be

issued, " Henning Strodthoff went on, " and certainly not by this

institute. "

 

The investigations made so far for the most part rule out the

possibility of

common diseases or errors in feeding the animals as the cause of the

cows

dying. Syngenta gave the farmer partial compensation in 2002 but

refused to recognise the GM maize as being the cause. The farmer

called in vain on the authorities and Syngenta to provide more

support in making a full investigation into the case, and has now

made the details of it available to Greenpeace.

 

This GM maize is in Europe only grown commercially in Spain. Studies

on

bt176 maize have again and again made surprising findings. The newly

created

Bt protein which is in fact supposed to protect the maize from

particular insects that feed on it, for example, becomes degraded

more slowly than had been anticipated. It is found in cows'

stomachs, intestines and excrement. Experiments on mice show that it

may function similarly with mammals, something which had always been

ruled out. The case

is particularly explosive because the EU is discussing a new

application for another Syngenta GM maize. This bt11 maize is

intended for human consumption, and forms the same poisonous protein.

 

There are in Germany only a few companies and chain stores like the

Metro

group that want to use genetic engineering in the products they sell

and

market. Metro also does not rule out the possibility that genetic

engineering is already present in its own brands. In Germany genetic

engineering gets into consumers' food via animal feed.

 

[more information in German can be found at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/deutschland/fakten/gentechnik/]