US to Rubber Stamp Transgene Contamination

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6 Jan 2005 17:40:03 -0000

 

US to Rubber Stamp Transgene Contamination

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society

Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

General Enquiries sam

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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

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/commentsmain.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_plans_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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General Enquiries sam

Website/Mailing List press-release

ISIS Director m.w.ho

 

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