GMW: Worldwide contamination/Consumers don't want GM feed

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GMW: Worldwide contamination/Consumers don't want GM feed

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:56:54 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Who says we don't need a global ban?

 

1.SWEDEN: Consumers don't want GM feed

2.UK: 10% of foods incl. soy GM contaminated

3.HUNGARY: Supermarkets act over GM contamination

4.PHILIPPINES: Common food products contaminated

5.KOREA: Organic soya milk GM contaminated

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1.SWEDEN: Consumers don't want GM feed

 

Dear friends,

 

I am forwarding a press release by Greenpeace from Sweden.

http://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/nyheter/gmo-undersokning

(Svenska konsumenter vill inte äta kött producerat med GMO visar ny

undersökning)

 

A new consumers' survey result on GM fed animal products. Swedish

conusmers do not want GM food.

 

Sincerely,

Akiko currently in Sweden

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The survey result in Swedish can be downloaded here:

www.greenpeace.se/gmoundersokning

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(English translation)

 

Greenpeace Press Release, Thursday, March 30, 2006

 

Swedish Consumers do not want to eat meat produced with GM feed - new

opinion poll released today

 

The representative opinion poll was conducted by Exquiro Market

Research and commissioned by Greenpeace. It surveyed the person in each

household responsible for food shopping. Questions were asked concerning

genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their use in animal feed, labeling

of products and the policy of Swedish Meats.

 

93% of those asked said that meat products coming from animals fed with

GM feed should be labeled. Furthermore, 68% answered that they would

not buy meat products if they knew GM feed was used.

 

" The survey results are clear and should send a strong message to the

food industry and the government: consumers don't want their food to be

produced with GMOs, " says Kathleen McCaughey, GMO spokesperson for

Greenpeace.

 

Swedish Meats, owner of Scan brand products, allows GM feed to be used

since January of this year. When asked, 74% of the respondents viewed

as negative Swedish Meats' decision to allow the use of GM feed, while

only 3% supported the decision.

 

" Swedish Meats cannot afford to ignore such clearly expressed consumer

opinion. Greenpeace and Swedish consumers demand that Swedish Meats

reintroduce its earlier GMO free policy " , says Kathleen McCaughey.

 

" The survey greatly supports our work to get new labeling legislation

adopted in the EU. Consumers have the right to make informed choices. It

is high time for meat and dairy products made from GM feed to be

labeled " , concludes Kathleen McCaughey.

 

Contacts:

Kathleen McCaughey, GMO campaign +46 702 350886

Alfred Skogberg, press officer +46 703 405414

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2.Food survey finds GMO soy in 10th of samples

Reuters, March 30, 2006

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews & storyID=2006-0\

3-30T142339Z_01_L30534978_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-FOOD-BRITAIN-GMO-DC.XML

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Very low levels of genetically modified material

were found in 10 percent of samples in a survey by Britain's Food

Standards Agency of soy-containing ingredients which did not have labels

indicating GMO material.

 

The FSA said, however, that all 60 samples complied with the law, which

allows for small amounts of GMO material from accidental mixing of crop

varieties.

 

European food laws require that food derived from GMO sources should be

labeled accordingly.

 

The samples were collected between February and April from a range of

food manufacturers.

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3.Supermarkets act after Greenpeace GMO claim

The Budapest Times, 28 March 2006

http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

 

Supermarket chains last week promised to act to either remove or

investigate suspect products after Greenpeace Hungary claimed that

food made

with GMO soya was being sold unmarked.

 

Greenpeace last Tuesday said that it had found inappropriately high

levels of GMO soya in canned meat goods made by Globus, Szegedi Paprika

and a third unnamed firm.

 

" The National Food Safety and Nutrition Science Institute inspected the

goods and found they contained more than 3% of GMO soya protein, "

Greenpeace spokeswomen Szabina Mózes told daily newspaper Magyar Hírlap.

 

According to Hungarian law, products with GMO content over 0.9% must

indicate this on the packaging. Greenpeace asked the companies to

withdraw their products and activists labelled hundreds of cans of the

affected goods in a branch of Tesco.

 

Globus told MTI news agency that the products had not in fact undergone

any testing, but claimed that it would look into instigating such tests

immediately. The company said that all of its contracts with its

suppliers state that products with GMO content greater than the legal

limit

would not be accepted.

 

German discount chain, Lidl, said that it would take the goods off the

shelves, adding that they would not go back on sale until the

manufacturers could certify that they were GMO free. Tesco promised it

would do

the same.

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4.Group says RP is now GMO-contaminated

Sunstar (The Philippines), 27 March 2006.

 

Potentially unsafe substances from genetically-modified organisms (GMO)

have allegedly contaminated some common food products that are being

sold in the country, environmental group Greenpeace claimed.

 

Daniel Ocampo, genetic engineering campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast

Asia, said the Philippines is one of the 39 countries in the world that

are affected by contamination from GMOs based on the " GM Contamination

Report 2005 " of Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK.

 

The report, which focused on the extent to which GMOs have leaked into

the environment, showed widespread global contamination, illegal

planting and cases of negative agricultural side effects supposedly

caused by

genetically-engineered products.

 

Ocampo said the contamination case specifically cited for the

Philippines was the presence of GMOs in common food products,

including baby

food.

 

" The Philippine's inclusion in the list is not surprising considering

the country's failure to ratify the Biosafety Protocol, which

establishes the minimum international safety standards for GMO crops

and their

trade, " he said.

 

Eliezer Billanes, convenor of the Socsksargen Movement against GMOs,

expressed alarm over the reported GMO contamination on local food

products as it practically places consumers at risk.

 

He reiterated the need for the government to impose a mandatory

labeling of consumer products to make consumers aware of products that

contain

GMOs.

 

" The issue here is that the safety of GMOs to human health and the

environment remains a big question. So until this issue is not yet

properly

resolved, it's only proper for our government to control the

distribution of these questionable products if it cannot totally ban

them, "

Billanes said.

 

He showed a pamphlet containing a list of products supposedly

containing GMOs and a call for their boycott. The list covers at least 47

processed products that include milk, noodles, and hot dogs containing

genetically-engineered corn and soya.

 

Contamination was even found in countries conducting supposedly

carefully controlled high-profile farm-scale evaluations such as the

UK, " the

report noted.

 

In the case of the Philippines, Ocampo was alarmed over the

government's continuing adoption of various biotechnology products,

which started

with the commercialization of Monsanto's Bacillus Thuringiensis or Bt

corn.

 

But agricultural biotechnology proponents insisted that GMOs are in

fact safe and there's no need to label them.

 

Dr. Benigno Peczon, president of the government-backed Biotechnology

Coalition of the Philippines, said conclusive studies made by scientists

and medical experts worldwide have substantially affirmed the safety of

the GM products. (Allen V. Estabillo)

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Organic Milk Fails Certification Test

by Jung-Eun Lee Na-Yeon Lee (lightee larosa)

MARCH 30, 2006

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000 & biid=2006033067828

 

An investigation has revealed that organic soybean milk and formula

manufactured by the country's leading food companies contain genetically

modified organism (GMO) components.

 

A member of the Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Committee under the National Assembly and the Grand National Party (GNP)

Hong Moon-pyo announced yesterday that monitoring conducted in 2005 for

GMO components by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) showed

that GMO ingredients were found in a leading organic formula and a

leading milk company's premium organic soybean milk.

 

In addition, Hong stated that the analysis by the National Agricultural

Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) showed two other food

companies' organic soybean milk also contained GMO elements.

 

Under the current Food Safety Law and Practice, GMO components

shouldn't be found in processed food marked as organic.

 

According to the " guideline to the indication of GMO " under the

Agricultural Product Quality Management Law, however, in cases in

which there

is a separate distribution certificate proving that no GMO elements are

among the ingredients, an allowable limit of three percent of GMO

components can be accidentally mixed in. The provision means that even

without the GMO indication, GMO components could be discovered in

processed

foods made from imported materials.

 

A formula maker spokesperson said, " Ever since we were informed of the

detection of GMO components last April, our company and outside

agencies conducted GMO testing, but we have not discovered any GMO

elements in

any of those tests, " and claimed that GMO components could be even

found in organic formula made from ingredients granted by the government.

 

In fact, the KFDA's monitoring result shows that out of 869 products

for examination, regardless of whether or not there is organic mark, 198

products (22.8 percent), including two indicated organic, contained GMO

elements.

 

Regarding the types of the 198 products, beverages had the most GMO

components with 37.6 percent, followed by special nutritional (31

percent), meat products (29.2 percent), tofu-based products (25

percent), and

snacks (23.5 percent). Concerning the soybean, an ingredient to make

tofu, all 39 products were detected with GMO components.

 

The KFDA noted, " We ordered [the company] that violated the duty to

indicate an organic mark, to correct its indication system and will also

issue correction orders to the 'Y' milk company, 'N' company and 'J'

food company, if their products are found to contain GMO components after

examination. "

 

And yet, a KFDA official remarked, " There is a huge gap in marking GMO

elements in the food's ingredients, with Europe at 0.9 percent and

Japan and Taiwan both at five percent, respectively, " and explained that

the U.S. does not have any obligatory standard for indicating GMO

elements as it sees no problem with GMO components at all.

 

 

 

 

 

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