GMW: Tainted GM maize impounded at Irish port

[Guest guest]

Well, you just know what is going on behind the scenes. Can't you just

imagine conversations going on like..well hell, dump it into the US

food chain, man they will eat anything, no questions asked. No real

media to mess up the spin/information cycle either and even if they do

find out, they won't say anything. Besides, the food chain is already

loaded to the top with this type stuff anyway and we haven't had

anyone give us any problems yet. Isn't it convient that most of them

seem to have this great capacity to run around being experts on

everything without wanting or needing to know anything anyway. yeh,

get your education from a TV and video games, haha. Yeh, for now, it

looks like it will have to be the old home market and some stupid poor

countries we maybe can push it off on until we get those politicians

we pay for to get off their asses and do something about it.......

 

 

 

 

 

GMW: Tainted GM maize impounded at Irish port

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 25 May 2005 19:32:23 +0100

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Tainted biotech maize impounded at Irish port

Wed May 25, 2005 12:59 PM ET

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews & storyID=8604559

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A United States consignment of genetically

modified corn gluten feed tainted with an illegal strain has been

impounded

upon arrival at an Irish port, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

 

The feed was contaminated with the banned Bt-10, a genetically modified

(GMO) maize made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta .

 

The shipment was tested in the United States and the positive results

for Bt-10 were sent to Ireland to allow Dublin to stop the cargo on

arrival, the EU executive said.

 

" The Irish authorities are taking necessary measures to ensure that the

contaminated consignment does not enter the food chain, " Commission

spokesman Philip Tod told a news conference.

 

Last month the European Union blocked imports of maize from the United

States unless shipments carried proof that they were free of Bt-10,

which is not authorized for use either in Europe or the United States.

 

The curb will be reviewed at the end of October but the EU's food

safety chief said last month the conditional ban may be extended if more

contaminated products were discovered.

 

Syngenta said the impounding of the maize shipment in Ireland showed

that the testing system for Bt-10 was working.

 

" The testing and certification implemented by the European Union is

doing exactly what it is supposed to do, " said a Syngenta spokesman.

 

U.S. exporters send 3.5 million tonnes of corn gluten feed to Europe

each year, a trade worth some 350 million euros ($440 million).

 

In March Syngenta said some of its maize seeds sent to the EU from the

United States were mistakenly mixed with Bt-10. This insect-resistant

strain is similar to Bt-11, a different GMO strain that is approved for

distribution in the EU.

 

The maize mix-up occurred between 2001 and 2004.

 

(additional reporting by Pilar Wolfsteller in Zurich)

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EU: Ireland intercepts U.S. biotech corn

Associated Press, Wednesday May 2005

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/25/AR2005052500515.html

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Irish port authorities intercepted a shipment from

the United States of animal feed that contained genetically modified

corn banned in the European Union, the European Commission said

Wednesday.

 

U.S. officials tested the shipment for Bt10 corn before it left, " and

notified to Irish authorities before the ship arrived " in Ireland, EU

Commission spokesman Philip Tod said.

 

About 290 tests for Bt10 have been conducted on EU-bound shipments, but

this was the first time a test turned up positive, Tod said.

 

The cargo will be offloaded and stored, pending a decision on its

disposal, the commission said. Irish authorities will carry out a risk

assessment of the other feed materials on the boat.

 

The EU's six-year ban on biotech foods in general ended in May 2004

when the European Commission approved a new corn developed by Swiss

agrochemicals company Syngenta.

 

But a ban against Bt10 remains in place. The EU says it contains a gene

that can make that strain of corn resistant to ampicillin, a commonly

used antibiotic.

 

EU rules require the commission to prevent unauthorized genetically

modified products from entering Europe.

 

Europeans have become increasingly wary what they eat, following recent

food scares including mad cow disease in beef and poisonous dioxins in

chickens.

 

 

 

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