US to Rubber Stamp Transgene Contamination

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23 Dec 2004 20:56:32 -0000

 

US to Rubber Stamp Transgene Contamination

press-release

 

 

 

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press-release ISIS Director m.w.ho

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ISIS Press Release 22/12/04

 

US to Rubber Stamp Transgene Contamination

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US set to approve contamination of food supply with

unauthorised test crops. Mae-Wan Ho and Sam Burcher report

 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a

proposal on 24 November 2004 to allow experimental GM crops

grown on " test " sites to legally enter the food chain. The

proposal is open for comment until 24 January 2005.

 

The FDA proposal came in response to a 2002 Bush

administration initiative in the wake of widespread

contamination of US food supplies and exports in 2000 with

unauthorised Starlink GM corn, which continued to be

detected in the US grain supply and in food shipments to

Bolivia, Japan and South Korea as recently as autumn 2003.

 

FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford described the proposed

policy as " a high priority for the Administration and the

industry, to enhance public confidence, avoid product

recalls, and provide an international model " for similar

policies around the world.

 

The new policy sets out loose " safety assessment " guidelines

under which a company may voluntarily consult with the FDA

to have its experimental GM crop material deemed

" acceptable " as a food contaminant. The " safety assessment "

consists of paperwork and two inadequate tests that the FDA

estimates will take companies just 20 hours to complete; and

does not include animal feeding trials or tests for

unintended effects caused by genetic modification. This

would then give biotech companies the legal cover to allow

their experimental GM crops to enter the US food supply. The

US biotechnology and grain industries are already calling on

the US government to " vigorously promote global adoption " of

this policy.

 

It is already virtually impossible to test for the presence

of experimental GM food crops in foods imported from or

processed in the US, because over two-thirds of US field

trials of experimental GM crops involve one or more genes

classified as confidential which therefore cannot be

detected.

 

Bill Freese, research analyst with Friends of the Earth (US)

said, " FDA's new proposal has nothing to do with food

safety, it's designed to provide biotech companies with

legal cover for contaminating the food supply with

experimental biotech traits. Such contamination has happened

in the past and has cost biotech companies more than

$1billion. " Aside from Starlink, another experimental GM

corn containing a pharmaceutical sprouted in a field of soya

one year after the trial crop had been harvested. ProdiGene,

the makers of the GM corn, paid out millions of dollars in

damages and a $250 000 fine, although the product never

reached the food chain.

 

Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe added: " Because

of the secrecy behind experiments in the United States, no

one - not food companies, not even governments - will be

able to test food products or food imports for contamination

because they won't know what to test for. This will leave

consumers worldwide exposed to new risks from genetically

modified foods. "

 

Those experiments that are known to the public include crops

with radically altered nutritional content for use as animal

feed or anti-fungal compounds that resemble food allergens.

Others include crops engineered to be resistant to chemical

herbicides, produce their own insecticides or have sterile

pollen or seeds. The FDA is also considering a similar

proposal to allow residues from experimental pharmaceutical

crops to enter the food chain. (See Ban Plant-based

Transgenic Pharmaceuticals

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Banpharmcrops.php).

 

Juan Lopez from Friends of the Earth International said:

" The Bush Administration, with the active support of the

biotechnology industry, is about to force their untested

genetically modified experiments into the world's food

supply. This proposal should be ringing alarm bells in every

consumer, every food company and every food agency of the

planet. "

 

In line with the same policy proposal, Prof. Joe Cummins at

the University of Western Ontario points out, " USDA [uS

Department of Agriculture], which regulates organic

certification, has proclaimed that organic food crops

polluted with modified genes from wind-borne pollen released

from neighbouring farms will still be certified as organic

food. " (See " GM sugar beet gone sour " , ISIS report, 9

December 2005, http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMSBGS.php).

 

More information at Friends of the Earth International

Action Alert: http://www.foei.org/cyberaction/fda.html

 

Submit your comments by 24 January 2005.

 

Through the FDA website (Docket ID " 2004D-03692) at

 

www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/commentsm

ain.cfm?EC_DOCUMENT_ID=543 & SUBTYP=NEXT & CID= & AGENCY=FDA

 

Or send written comments, referencing Docket ID2004D-0369 to

FDA Commissioner

 

Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug

Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville,

MD20852, USA

 

Sources

 

FDA release of the policy was announced at:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2004/ANS01327.html

 

FDA's draft policy is available at:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/bioprgui.htm.

 

FOE Press release. Anger over US plans to allow GM

contamination on food, Nov 23

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/anger_over_us_p

lans_to_all_23112004.html

 

Bad seeds, Crop Choice News 24 Aug. 2004

http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry39e0-2.html?recid=2720

 

FoE briefing paper:

www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/contamination.pdf

 

 

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