GMW: BAYER - GM pollution now global

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GMW: BAYER - GM pollution now global

" GM WATCH " <info

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 18:46:26 +0100

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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In the context of the current scnadal over Austrlalian non-GM canola

being GM contaminated, note the telling Bayer quote below (item 3) which

claims some level of GM contamination is now " a reality in agricultural

production systems around the world " .

 

Why might they be happy to admit that?

 

Remember the comment of the vice-president of the international

consulting firm whose client list included not only the likes of

ConAgra and

Unilever but Aventis - the company whose crop science business,

including its GM canola, was taken over by Bayer?

 

" The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded

that there's nothing you can do about it. " - Don Westfall, Promar

International, January 2001

 

A year later in April 2002, Dale Adolphe, former head of the Canola

Council of Canada and executive director of the Canadian Seed Growers

Association, told Canadian canola growers at their annual meeting that

despite growing public opposition to genetically engineered crops around

the globe, there was hope:

 

" It's a hell of a thing to say that the way we win is don't give the

consumer a choice, but that might be it. "

http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6157

 

If you want a choice, the implications are clear - we have to fight

right around the globe to stop this technology.

 

1.Australian GE canola contamination found in Japan

2.GE canola contamination found in Australia

3.Australian GE canola contamination found in Japan

 

excerpts:

 

" Opponents say the contamination could have severe consequences for

exporters, while Labor says the incident raises serious doubts about the

Government's management of the quarantine system. " (item 1)

 

" Only Japanese insistence on testing the Victorian canola shipment for

foreign genes brought this contamination to light. Japan was alerted to

the need for testing by repeated GE contamination of their food and

environment with unapproved canola and corn varieties from overseas. "

(item 2)

 

" Bayer's statement that, 'trace levels of GM material is a reality in

agricultural production systems around the world', is an admission that

they and other GE companies cannot prevent GE from contaminating normal

food crops. " (item 3)

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1.Australian GE canola contamination found in Japan

14 July 05, The Advertiser (shortened)

http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2277

 

AUTHORITIES have confirmed the first known contamination of a food crop

with genetically modified material in Australia.

 

The Federal Government has rushed to assure the public about the safety

of the canola and the integrity of current moratoria on the use of

genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food crops.

 

Opponents say the contamination could have severe consequences for

exporters, while Labor says the incident raises serious doubts about the

Government's management of the quarantine system.

 

The GM material was found during routine testing by the Australian

Barley Board (ABB) of an export consignment of Victorian canola seeds

that

was bound for Japan.

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2.GE canola contamination found in Australia

GeneEthics Network, July 15, 2005

http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2280

 

Bayer, the Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR), ABB Grain Ltd

and the Victorian Government all confirm that an unlicensed variety of

genetically engineered (GE) canola - Bayer's Topas 19/2 - was found in a

canola shipment to Japan. A small plot of Topas 19/2 was planted in

Victoria in 1998, but conventional seed imported for a breeding program

may be the source of contamination.

 

" Only Japanese insistence on testing the Victorian canola shipment for

foreign genes brought this contamination to light, " says GeneEthics

Network Director Bob Phelps.

 

" Japan was alerted to the need for testing by repeated GE contamination

of their food and environment with unapproved canola and corn varieties

from overseas, " he says.

 

" Much experience shows that GE pollutes conventional food crops, even

where GE varieties are not commercially grown, " he says.

 

" How widely the GE contaminated seed may have spread in Australia is

unknown and it could now be everywhere, " he says.

 

" So every paddock and shipping container of oilseeds and grains must be

tested, and any contaminated product destroyed, " he says.

 

" Zero detectable GE contmaination must be our standard, " he says.

 

" Australian food exports worth billions of dollars are at risk of

temporary or even permanent cancellation, " says Mr Phelps.

 

" Australia's GE-free status is a great marketing advantage over most

other food exporting countries, so a nation-wide GE cleanup is now

urgently needed to restore Asian, Middle Eastern and European buyer

confidence in the GE-free status of our products, " he says.

 

" This contamination scandal shows that Australia's regulatory systems

have failed and need a total overhaul, " he says.

 

" We recommended for years that Biosecurity Australia should test all

seed so that gene contamination was prevented, and this must begin now, "

he says.

 

" State government bans on commercial GE food crops should get real

teeth, by including all field trials in the bans and making them

permanent, " he says.

 

" The current review of Australia's Gene Technology Act is an ideal

opportunity to make the OGTR system more robust, precautionary and

answerable to the public, " he says.

 

" The review panel ought to convene public hearings on the present laws

all around the country, so everyone can have a say, " Mr Phelps

concludes.

 

More comment: Bob Phelps 03 9347 4500 (O) 03 9889 1717 (H)

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3.Australian GE canola contamination found in Japan

GREENPEACE MEDIA RELEASE, July 14 2005

http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2276

 

Bayer CropScience has confirmed that genetically engineered (GE)

material have been found in a consignment of Victorian canola exported to

Japan.

 

" If we ever needed evidence that even small scale plantings of GE are

dangerous to our export markets, this is it, " said Greenpeace GE

campaigner Jeremy Tager. " Our reputation as a GE free country is

seriously at

risk because Bayer can't control it's GE organisms or prevent

contamination "

 

Bayer's statement that, " trace levels of GM material is a reality in

agricultural production systems around the world " , is an admission that

they and other GE companies cannot prevent GE from contaminating normal

food crops.

 

This argument has never been accepted in Australia, by farmers or by

state governments – which is why all major canola growing states have put

a ban on the commercial growing GE canola.

 

This GE contamination incident coincides with a Federal Review of

Australia's Gene Technology Act (submissions to the Review close

tomorrow,

Friday July 15.)

 

" This scandal shows how our GE regulatory system is failing. GE

contamination is out of control, and the system needs a total

overhaul, not

just a review, " said Tager. " All GE crop trials in Australia should

immediately stop. "

 

Contacts:

Greenpeace GE Campaigner Jeremy Tager 0438 679 263 (07)

3892 7538

Greenpeace Media Officer Carolin Wenzel (02) 9263 0358

0417 668 957

 

Carolin Wenzel, Greenpeace Communications Officer

 

Ph: (02) 9263 0358 Mo: 0417 668 957

 

Carolin.Wenzel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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