+ CHOPRA WARNS OF SERIOUS ISSUES IN FOOD SAFETY

[Guest guest]

+ CHOPRA WARNS OF SERIOUS ISSUES IN FOOD SAFETY

Dr Shiv Chopra was a Health Canada scientist who was fired from his

job after raising concerns over the potential approval of Monsanto's

GM " bovine growth hormone " in Canada.

 

In a talk at Powell River, Chopra said that while GM food is " the

latest beast on the block, " there are other serious issues about

foodsafety.

 

Those issues include hormones, antibiotics and rendered material

going into animal feed.

" They all have to be stopped, " Chopra said. " They must all be taken

out of food. "

 

Hormones initiate and promote cancer in animals, Chopra said. " Even

a

single molecule of a cancer-causing chemical attached to a sensitive

cell in the body can start cancer.

 

Hormones also cause reproductive

disorders in people and it's all happening through the food supply. "

 

Widespread use of antibiotics in animals to prevent disease causes

bacteria to become drug-resistant, he said. " People are dying

because we

have nothing left to treat them with. The bugs have become

resistant. "

 

 

Antibiotics have been in the food supply system for more than 30

years,

he said.

 

If these practices were banned in Canada, Chopra said, it would

create

a level playing field. " Food would automatically become organic, " he

said. " If we did this, it would generate jobs, create healthy food

and a

large export market. " Organic farmers shouldn't have to fight for

the

changes, Chopra added.

 

" It's the public that should demand these things

be taken out. "

 

Chopra also raised an alarm about two pending federal bills, Bill C-

27,

the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Enforcement Act, and Bill C-28,

An

Act to Amend the Food and Drugs Act. Bill C-27 would allow the

Canadian

Food Inspection Agency to accept testing and certification results

from

other countries. It would harmonize food inspection, food safety and

environmental laws to conform with American regulations.

 

The US permits irradiation of meat, which is not allowed in Canada,

and

has failed to meet World Health Organization guidelines for

preventing

mad cow disease.

 

Bill C-28 would allow Health Canada to give temporary

approvals to drugs without data to back up the approvals. Chopra

called

that a " dangerous power. "

 

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5347

=====================================================================

 

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:16 pm

Post subject: The Milk Monitor

 

---

 

-----------

 

The Milk Monitor

13 – 17 June 2005

 

A week long extravaganza of street theatre & protests against GM

animal feed

The campaign against Genetically Modified crops has been incredibly

successful, but the continuing import of GM to feed European

livestock now threatens to undermine much of what has been achieved

in making Britain's shelves GM free. To encourage supermarkets to

keep their commitment to stop selling GM fed meat and dairy a wide

range of organisations have come together to hold morning vigils

outside Sainsbury's Head Quarters in central London.

 

Please join us in reminding the big retailers that until the problem

goes away, we won't either.

_________________

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes