Franken Foods: Collusion and cover up in illegal maize

[Guest guest]

GMW: Collusion and cover up in illegal maize scandals

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:35:56 +0100

 

 

GM FREE daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.Collusion and cover up

2.GM Maize scandal: authorities slammed for incompetence and

complacency

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1.Collusion and cover up - just who are they protecting?

 

The biggest importers of sweetcorn from the US, Japan and South Korea,

both appear to be trying to take steps to shut off maize supplies

contaminated by Syngenta's illegal unapproved Bt10 maize at the ports.

The

EU has shown far more complacency as GM Free Cymru note in their

excellent (and usefully referenced) press release below.

 

The Japanese government has said that if inspections " discover

contaminated cargoes, the ministry will order importers to destroy

them or ship

them back to the United States. " But the government also says Japanese

ports would only be able to " start testing samples of corn cargoes from

the United States after the ministry obtained the necessary data from

Syngenta to detect Bt10. "

 

And there's the rub, Syngenta seems to be sitting on their hands with

complete impugnity, delaying the release of full information at every

turn.

 

This was most apparent in their failure to disclose that Bt10, unlike

Bt11, contained a gene for Ampicillin resistance. Ampicillin is a broad

spectrum antibiotic which has the ability to kill a wide range of

bacterial infections in the body, including gonorrhoea, and infections of

the respiratory tract, the ear, and the urinary system, as well as

salmonella infections. It is still widely used.

 

Dr Brian John of GM Free Cymryu points out that Syngenta has been here

before in terms of a reluctance to cooperate, if not active intent to

cover up evidence relating to its negligence. That is why news of the

latest Syngenta GM fiasco was reported in New Zealand in terms of the

previous scandal - " Corngate seed supplier admits bungle in later GE

crops " (24 March 2005)

 

5.6 tonnes of GM contaiminated maize seed, supplied by Syngenta, was

illegally shipped to New Zealand in 2000 and then planted over 178ha as

non-GM seed. This led on in 2002 to the Corngate controversy during the

run-up to a general election with allegations that the New Zealand

government had been involved in a deliberate cover up.

 

What also resonates with corngate is the PR tactics Syngenta

subsequently adopted:

 

" In a subsequent select committee investigation, National, NZ First,

Green Party, and ACT MPs said the evidence available could neither prove

nor disprove the issue. A definitive answer was frustrated because

the seed exporter, Syngenta, refused to allow the committee to talk to

the Genescan laboratory which carried out the testing that identified the

contamination. "

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3227702a10,00.html

 

As with the New Zealand government, there is concern that the European

Commission, Britain's Food Standards Agency and others, are

deliberately turning a blind eye to illegality.

 

Although the EU's Health and Consumer protection Spokesman Philip Tod

has claimed, " We have a method to detect Bt11, but not for Bt10 because

it is not an authorised product, " it remains far from clear that it is

necessary for the EU to wait for the necessary data to come from

Syngenta in order to detect Bt10.

 

The longest-established GM detection firm, Genetic ID, says detection

of Bt10 is possible immediately: " Contrary to statements by the EU

Commission, as reported in some media reports over the past few days, the

detection of Bt10 maize as well as the distinction from Bt11 is possible

immediately. "

 

Testing for Bt10 is also widely available, including both in the EU and

in Japan and South Korea, " Genetic ID offers its test for Bt10 through

its laboratories in Germany, the U.S., and Japan, as well as through

Genetic ID's Global Laboratory Alliance® members in Brazil, Britain,

Italy, China, Singapore, Taiwan, India, South Korea and, again, the U.S. "

 

While the European Commission simply wring their hands while claiming

that nothing can be done, GM Free Cymru point out that a wide range of

products could contain the illegal and potentially dangerous Bt10

maize. These include " frozen and canned sweetcorn, corn on the cob, baby

food, corn oil, corn flour, polenta, maize meal, maize pasta, maize

based

snacks and tortillas (including tortilla chips and tacos). " (OPEN

COMMUNICATION from Ian Panton to Sir John Krebs, Chairman of the Food

Standards Agency, 4 April 2005)

 

GM Free Cymru has also drawn attention to European Commissioner Margot

Wallstrom's statement that " We politicians are accountable to 450

million Europeans and you expect us to work together, to be effective,

to communicate with you and to give you a voice. " It's time, says GM

Free Cymru's Ian Panton, that the European Commission took these

sentiments to heart and took action " now to preserve the human rights

and the

health of all European citizens. " (Illegal Contamination of the European

Food Chain - An Issue of Human Rights, 6 April 2005)

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2.GM Maize scandal: authorities slammed for incompetence and

complacency

 

Press Notice from GM Free Cymru

4th April 2005

 

The official response within the UK and Europe to the GM maize scandal

has been " incompetent and complacent " , according to GM watchdog group

GM Free Cymru. The group also claims that Europe's GM regulatory

system, promoted as being the most rigorous and robust in the world, is

actually a shambles.

 

It is more than ten days since the world was alerted to the " accidental

release " onto the world food market of GM maize contaminated with an

unauthorized and untested Syngenta variety known as Bt10. The story was

kept under wraps for almost four months by the US authorities and

Syngenta, and when " Nature " reported the contamination incident on 22

March

(1) there was a carefully coordinated " damage limitation campaign "

involving statements to the press which were extremely economical with

the

truth. In the UK, DEFRA put out a statement on 23 March which was

evasive and dishonest. More seriously, it contained lies which have

still

not been officially admitted or corrected.

 

The notes below itemize some of the features of the disinformation

campaign within Britain and the EU.

 

Speaking for GM Free Cymru, Dr Brian John said: " We have uncovered an

appalling catalogue of evasions, cover-ups, lies and complacency

relating to this scandal. We do not expect anything better from

Syngenta,

but we do expect some level of competence from our own regulatory

authorities in Britain and the EU. Instead, we have had a clear

demonstration

that the GM regulatory system simply does not work. Nobody is testing

for unauthorized GM material in animal feed or human food imports, and

nobody is taking responsibility for dealing with this massive

contamination incident. What has the EU done since the disaster came

to light?

For ten days it did nothing at all. Now it has " deplored the incident "

and " requested information from the US authorities " . It has even had

the gall to boast about the activation of its " Rapid Alert System " !

DEFRA has done even less, and has effectively said that the import of

illegal GM maize into the UK is none of its business. "

 

" And while all this evasion and obfuscation is going on, there may well

be food products on the shelves of British supermarkets which contain

concentrations of illegal Bt10 maize (2). These products need to be

identified and withdrawn from sale. All imports of maize and maize

products from the US into Europe must be stopped while studies are

going on,

and then only resumed when a tight and properly funded GM testing and

monitoring system is in place. " (8) (10)

 

" Let's face it. If Bt10 is contained within any food or feed products

within the EU, at even the smallest concentrations, those products are

illegal. We simply want the authorities to uphold the laws which they

themselves have brought onto the statute books (9). "

 

ENDS

 

Contact:

 

Brian John

01239-820470

 

NOTES:

 

Some of the more dishonourable features of this PR campaign are as

follows:

 

** Syngenta stated in it original press release that " several hundred

tonnes " of Bt10 maize had gone into the food market. GM Free Cymru

then calculated that the real figure was closer to 185,000 tonnes, and

when a further estimate of 133,000 tonnes was published in " New

Scientist "

magazine, the company had to admit the truth, and acknowledged a

distribution of 150,000 tonnes of contaminated grain (3).

 

** The company stated at first that " Bt10 and Bt11 are physically

identical and the proteins are identical " as an explanation for the fact

that the unauthorized variety was grown " accidentally " for four years

in 20010-2004. This is completely untrue, and information on the record

in the US and Canada shows that the varieties are different in a number

of important respects (4).

 

** Syngenta made no mention in its press statements or interviews that

Bt10 contains an ampicillin antibiotic resistance marker (ARM) gene,

which makes it substantially different from Bt11. It has now been forced

to admit the presence of ARMs in Bt10, following investigations by FoE

Europe.

 

** The company has refused to name those countries which have imported

the contaminated and illegal grain for food use, in spite of repeated

requests. All it has said so far is that " up to 10 kg of Bt10 seed may

have been exported inadvertently as Bt11 for research purposes to Spain

and France. "

 

** The company has refused to give a full characterization of the

unauthorized GM variety, which means that products that might be derived

from it cannot be tested for Bt10. Neither has it yet provided a

specific detection method for use by the relevant authorities.

 

** The company has maintained the pretence that their Bt10 maize was

used mainly for animal feed. This is contradicted by the Syngenta web

pages on its Bt maize, which make it clear that Bt11 (and by implication

Bt10, which is supposedly " identical " ) was developed mainly as a

sweetcorn variety intended for human consumption (5).

 

** In spite of numerous requests from GM Free Cymru and other NGOs to

the EC, to EFSA and DEFRA, including personal letters to Elliot Morley

MP and the the relevant EC Commissioners, no action was taken for ten

days after the breaking of the story. At last the EU made a statement

to the press (6) which was complacent and ineffectual. The statement

maintained the pretence that the EU is not in possession of information

on " the structure of Bt10 " -- but it has had key information about it

on its files for at least a year, since Bt10 was used as the " control "

during the authentication process for the later variety called Bt11.

 

** In the UK, the DEFRA press release issued on 23 March simply

regurgitated some of the disinformation put out by Syngenta, including a

number of statements that were demonstrably false (7). The intention of

the statement was clearly to show that the contamination incident was " on

an extremely small scale " (which it patently was not); that Bt10 is an

animal feed or fodder maize line (which it is not); that the lines

contain the same GM event (which they do not); and that there are no

safety concerns (which is untrue, given the presence of ARMS in Bt10).

 

** In feigning ignorance of the real nature of the genetic event in

Bt10, and in pretending to be unaware of the presence of genes capable of

increasing antibiotic resistance to bacteria in the human gut, DEFRA

failed to mention that it has data on its own files, from Syngenta

submissions and ACRE advisory notes in late 2003 and early 2004, which

give

key facts about the ARMS and other genes inserted into Bt10.

 

References:

 

(1) US launches probe into sales of unapproved transgenic corn, Colin

Macilwain, NATURE, 22 March 2005.

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050321/full/nature03570.html

 

(2) Products which could contain Bt10 include frozen and canned

sweetcorn, corn on the cob, baby food, corn oil, corn flour, polenta,

maize

meal, maize pasta, maize based snacks and tortillas (including tortilla

chips and tacos). The American authorities calculate that 1,000 tonnes

of contaminated GM maize has come into the food chain in Europe since

2001; we suspect that the figure could be far higher.

 

(3) Farming Today Programme, BBC R4, Friday 1st April 2005.

 

(4) For example, Bt10 and Bt11 appear to have different promoters, and

Bt10 is reputedly unstable. The company has refused to issue

information on the nature of the toxins produced in the plant, or

their safety.

 

(5) www.syngenta.com/en/downloads/ Bt_sweet_corn_update_3-04_final.pdf

 

(6) EU deplores unauthorized imports of maize

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/biotech/2005-04-01-eu-gmo-corn_x.htm

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said Friday that it deplored

unauthorized

imports of BT10, a form of genetically modified maize made by

Switzerland's

Syngenta.

 

(7) DEFRA Press Release, 23 March 2005 (see below)

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=153346 & NewsAreaID=2

 

(8) South Korea, a major US market for canned and frozen sweetcorn,

has reacted with fury to the news of the Bt10 contamination incident.

See this: www.soyatech.com/bluebook/news/viewarticle.ldml?a=20050331-3

" Reports from private analysts in South Korea said the country's Food

and Drug Administration, or KFDA, is looking into how it can test corn

imports for Bt10. And Syngenta has mobilized, sending top level

representatives to Seoul. Syngenta spokeswoman Sarah Hull confirmed

that Paul

Tenning, head of the company's global biotech regulatory compliance

division, has been sent there. "

 

(9) Quote from EU Press Release, 1st April 2005: " EU environment

commissioner Dimas said Brussels was taking action to prevent the banned

maize type reaching consumers. " To avoid any adverse effect on human and

animal health or the environment ... the Commission has asked (EU)

member states to carry out appropriate control measures to stop Bt10

entering their territory, " he said. "

Commissioner Dimas is now being challenged to specify exactly what

these control measures are, and to explain exactly how they will be

implemented. He is also being challenged to specify how the EU plans to

identify and deal with Bt10 contamination of food supplies already on

sale

within the EU. " We wish the Commissioner luck, " said Brian John of GM

Free Cymru, " since he is trying to deal with a horse that bolted while

he and his colleagues were fast asleep. "

 

(10) Japan and South Korea, which are the biggest importers of

sweetcorn from the US, have both taken steps to shut off contaminated

supplies

at the ports.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/23/business/bio.html

Japan tests for modified corn from U.S.

Reuters. Thursday, March 24, 2005

" An official from the Japanese Health Ministry said inspection offices

at Japanese ports would start testing samples of corn cargoes from the

United States after the ministry obtained the necessary data from

Syngenta to detect Bt10 ............... If the inspections discover

contaminated cargoes, the ministry will order

importers to destroy them or ship them back to the United States. Bt10

is not approved either for human consumption or animal feed in Japan,

although Bt11 is approved for both purposes. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

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