WHO URGES FURTHER RESEARCH ON GM

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> WHO URGES FURTHER RESEARCH ON GM

> " GM WATCH " <info

> Wed, 13 Oct 2004 09:32:18 +0100

 

>

> WHO URGES FURTHER RESEARCH ON GM

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

> Here's as plain an admission as you could get that

> the research simply has not been done, and needs

> doing.

> ------

> WHO URGES FURTHER RESEARCH

> Bangkok Post, 13 Oct 2004

>

http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/news/show.pl?0374

>

> The World Health Organisation yesterday suggested

> Thailand conduct further research on genetically

> modified organisms (GMOs) so that an early action

> plan can be implemented to cope with possible health

> risks posed by transgenic food.

>

> " At this point, we have no evidence to say that it

> is dangerous to consume food products that contain

> GMOs, but at the same time we also don't know its

> negative side. So, we have to say that we do not

> know the adverse health effects of GM food, " WHO

> assistant director-general Kerstin Leitner said

> yesterday.

>

> The WHO suggested studies be conducted in order to

> be sure that should there be a negative health

> effect, appropriate action could be taken, said Ms

> Leitner, who was in Bangkok to attend a three-day

> international conference - the second Global Forum

> of Food Safety Regulators - organised by the WHO and

> the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

>

> With more than 500 food safety regulators and

> scientists from 104 countries participating, the

> conference aims to strengthen food safety controls

> in developing countries and to improve response to

> trans-boundary food safety emergencies.

>

> The delegates were greeted by about 30 consumer

> rights activists who called on the WHO and FAO to

> support ''precautionary principle'' in assessing the

> safety of GM products. ''Food safety is a public

> health issue. If science cannot assess the possible

> risks [from GMOs] accurately, precautionary

> principle should be applied,'' they said.

>

> The activists also called on the FAO and the WHO to

> monitor multinational companies which have already

> launched GMO field experiments in many countries,

> including Thailand.

>

> FAO assistant director-general Hartwig de Haen said

> the organisation recommended that governments

> strictly follow the international guideline on

> scientific risk assessment before approving the use

> of transgenic crop varieties. So far the FAO had not

> found any evidence of GMOs having a bad health

> effect on humans.

>

>