Worldwide contamination/Consumers don't want GM feed.

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GMW: Worldwide contamination/Consumers don't want GM feed"GM WATCH" <infoThu, 30 Mar 2006 16:56:54 +0100GM WATCH dailyhttp://www.gmwatch.org---Who says we don't need a global ban?1.SWEDEN: Consumers don't want GM feed2.UK: 10% of foods incl. soy GM contaminated3.HUNGARY: Supermarkets act over GM contamination4.PHILIPPINES: Common food products contaminated5.KOREA: Organic soya milk GM contaminated---1.SWEDEN: Consumers don't want GM feedDear friends,I am forwarding a press release by Greenpeace from Sweden.http://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/nyheter/gmo-undersokning(Svenska konsumenter vill inte äta kött producerat med GMO visar nyundersökning)A new consumers' survey result on GM fed animal products. Swedishconusmers do not want GM food.Sincerely,Akiko currently in Sweden-----------The survey result in Swedish can be downloaded here:www.greenpeace.se/gmoundersokning-----------(English translation)Greenpeace Press Release, Thursday, March 30, 2006Swedish Consumers do not want to eat meat produced with GM feed - newopinion poll released todayThe representative opinion poll was conducted by Exquiro MarketResearch and commissioned by Greenpeace. It surveyed the person in eachhousehold responsible for food shopping. Questions were asked concerninggenetically modified organisms (GMOs), their use in animal feed, labelingof products and the policy of Swedish

Meats.93% of those asked said that meat products coming from animals fed withGM feed should be labeled. Furthermore, 68% answered that they wouldnot buy meat products if they knew GM feed was used."The survey results are clear and should send a strong message to thefood industry and the government: consumers don't want their food to beproduced with GMOs," says Kathleen McCaughey, GMO spokesperson forGreenpeace.Swedish Meats, owner of Scan brand products, allows GM feed to be usedsince January of this year. When asked, 74% of the respondents viewedas negative Swedish Meats' decision to allow the use of GM feed, whileonly 3% supported the decision."Swedish Meats cannot afford to ignore such clearly expressed consumeropinion. Greenpeace and Swedish consumers demand that Swedish Meatsreintroduce its earlier GMO free policy", says Kathleen McCaughey."The survey greatly supports our work to get new

labeling legislationadopted in the EU. Consumers have the right to make informed choices. Itis high time for meat and dairy products made from GM feed to belabeled", concludes Kathleen McCaughey.Contacts:Kathleen McCaughey, GMO campaign +46 702 350886Alfred Skogberg, press officer +46 703 405414---2.Food survey finds GMO soy in 10th of samplesReuters, March 30, 2006http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews & storyID=2006-0\3-30T142339Z_01_L30534978_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-FOOD-BRITAIN-GMO-DC.XMLLONDON (Reuters) - Very low levels of genetically modified materialwere found in 10 percent of samples in a survey by Britain's FoodStandards Agency of soy-containing ingredients which did not have

labelsindicating GMO material.The FSA said, however, that all 60 samples complied with the law, whichallows for small amounts of GMO material from accidental mixing of cropvarieties.European food laws require that food derived from GMO sources should belabeled accordingly.The samples were collected between February and April from a range offood manufacturers.---3.Supermarkets act after Greenpeace GMO claimThe Budapest Times, 28 March 2006http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.phpSupermarket chains last week promised to act to either remove orinvestigate suspect products after Greenpeace Hungary claimed thatfood madewith GMO soya was being sold unmarked.Greenpeace last Tuesday said that it had found inappropriately highlevels of GMO soya in canned meat goods made by Globus, Szegedi Paprikaand a

third unnamed firm."The National Food Safety and Nutrition Science Institute inspected thegoods and found they contained more than 3% of GMO soya protein,"Greenpeace spokeswomen Szabina Mózes told daily newspaper Magyar Hírlap.According to Hungarian law, products with GMO content over 0.9% mustindicate this on the packaging. Greenpeace asked the companies towithdraw their products and activists labelled hundreds of cans of theaffected goods in a branch of Tesco.Globus told MTI news agency that the products had not in fact undergoneany testing, but claimed that it would look into instigating such testsimmediately. The company said that all of its contracts with itssuppliers state that products with GMO content greater than the legallimitwould not be accepted.German discount chain, Lidl, said that it would take the goods off theshelves, adding that they would not go back on sale until

themanufacturers could certify that they were GMO free. Tesco promised itwould dothe same.---4.Group says RP is now GMO-contaminatedSunstar (The Philippines), 27 March 2006.Potentially unsafe substances from genetically-modified organisms (GMO)have allegedly contaminated some common food products that are beingsold in the country, environmental group Greenpeace claimed.Daniel Ocampo, genetic engineering campaigner of Greenpeace SoutheastAsia, said the Philippines is one of the 39 countries in the world thatare affected by contamination from GMOs based on the "GM ContaminationReport 2005" of Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK.The report, which focused on the extent to which GMOs have leaked intothe environment, showed widespread global contamination, illegalplanting and cases of negative agricultural side effects supposedlycaused bygenetically-engineered products.Ocampo said the

contamination case specifically cited for thePhilippines was the presence of GMOs in common food products,including babyfood."The Philippine's inclusion in the list is not surprising consideringthe country's failure to ratify the Biosafety Protocol, whichestablishes the minimum international safety standards for GMO cropsand theirtrade," he said.Eliezer Billanes, convenor of the Socsksargen Movement against GMOs,expressed alarm over the reported GMO contamination on local foodproducts as it practically places consumers at risk.He reiterated the need for the government to impose a mandatorylabeling of consumer products to make consumers aware of products thatcontainGMOs."The issue here is that the safety of GMOs to human health and theenvironment remains a big question. So until this issue is not yetproperlyresolved, it's only proper for our government to control thedistribution

of these questionable products if it cannot totally banthem,"Billanes said.He showed a pamphlet containing a list of products supposedlycontaining GMOs and a call for their boycott. The list covers at least 47processed products that include milk, noodles, and hot dogs containinggenetically-engineered corn and soya.Contamination was even found in countries conducting supposedlycarefully controlled high-profile farm-scale evaluations such as theUK," thereport noted.In the case of the Philippines, Ocampo was alarmed over thegovernment's continuing adoption of various biotechnology products,which startedwith the commercialization of Monsanto's Bacillus Thuringiensis or Btcorn.But agricultural biotechnology proponents insisted that GMOs are infact safe and there's no need to label them.Dr. Benigno Peczon, president of the government-backed BiotechnologyCoalition of the Philippines,

said conclusive studies made by scientistsand medical experts worldwide have substantially affirmed the safety ofthe GM products. (Allen V. Estabillo)---Organic Milk Fails Certification Testby Jung-Eun Lee Na-Yeon Lee (lightee larosa)MARCH 30, 2006http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000 & biid=2006033067828An investigation has revealed that organic soybean milk and formulamanufactured by the country's

leading food companies contain geneticallymodified organism (GMO) components.A member of the Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime Affairs and FisheriesCommittee under the National Assembly and the Grand National Party (GNP)Hong Moon-pyo announced yesterday that monitoring conducted in 2005 forGMO components by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) showedthat GMO ingredients were found in a leading organic formula and aleading milk company's premium organic soybean milk.In addition, Hong stated that the analysis by the National AgriculturalProducts Quality Management Service (NAQS) showed two other foodcompanies' organic soybean milk also contained GMO elements.Under the current Food Safety Law and Practice, GMO componentsshouldn't be found in processed food marked as organic.According to the "guideline to the indication of GMO" under theAgricultural Product Quality Management Law, however, in

cases inwhich thereis a separate distribution certificate proving that no GMO elements areamong the ingredients, an allowable limit of three percent of GMOcomponents can be accidentally mixed in. The provision means that evenwithout the GMO indication, GMO components could be discovered inprocessedfoods made from imported materials.A formula maker spokesperson said, "Ever since we were informed of thedetection of GMO components last April, our company and outsideagencies conducted GMO testing, but we have not discovered any GMOelements inany of those tests," and claimed that GMO components could be evenfound in organic formula made from ingredients granted by the government.In fact, the KFDA's monitoring result shows that out of 869 productsfor examination, regardless of whether or not there is organic mark, 198products (22.8 percent), including two indicated organic, contained

GMOelements.Regarding the types of the 198 products, beverages had the most GMOcomponents with 37.6 percent, followed by special nutritional (31percent), meat products (29.2 percent), tofu-based products (25percent), andsnacks (23.5 percent). Concerning the soybean, an ingredient to maketofu, all 39 products were detected with GMO components.The KFDA noted, "We ordered [the company] that violated the duty toindicate an organic mark, to correct its indication system and will alsoissue correction orders to the 'Y' milk company, 'N' company and 'J'food company, if their products are found to contain GMO components afterexamination."And yet, a KFDA official remarked, "There is a huge gap in marking GMOelements in the food's ingredients, with Europe at 0.9 percent andJapan and Taiwan both at five percent, respectively, " and explained thatthe U.S. does not have any obligatory standard for indicating

GMOelements as it sees no problem with GMO components at all.-------------------------- "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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