GMW: Ventria experiments with GMO rice on infants in Peru

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GMW: Ventria experiments with GMO rice on infants in Peru

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:53:20 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Ventria, the controversial GM pharma rice firm that has had to abandon

its field trial plans in both California and Missouri, is now at the

centre of a new storm over its activities in Peru.

 

For original article in Spanish:

http://www.telesurtv.net/home14jun6.php

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Laboratorio de EEUU prueba con niños peruanos efectividad de arroz

transgenico

 

US laboratory testing transgenic rice with Peruvian children

TeleSUR (Venezuela) / 14/06/2006

 

The Peruvian Medical Association denounced that Ventria, a

pharmaceutical company from the US, is experimenting with lactating

infants to

evaluate the effectiveness of their pharmaceutical rice for use in acute

diarrhea, reports Eduardo Aragon from TeleSur in Venezuela.

 

This transgenic rice is modified to produce the protein Lactoferrin.

According to Herbert Cuba Garcia, spokesman for the Association, " these

genetic changes are not allowed in Peru " .

 

Cuba Garcia announced that Ventria Biosciences is performing a test in

140 children in public hospitals in the Peruvian capital, Lima, and in

the locality of Trujillo, with the approval of the Ministry of Health.

 

In turn, lawyers mounting a defence of children's rights have

considered this case as a violation of the laws and the Codes for

Children and

Adolescents.

 

" Children, as any other human being, have rights and have the right of

freedom in their development and health, which should not be a matter

of experimentation, especially when the possible outcomes of the

experiments are not known " , said Norma Rojas, attorney for Accion por los

Ninos (Action on Behalf of Children).

 

Norma Rojas expressed that when it comes to children's rights there

must be a primacy of the Superior Interest Principle, in other words, the

principle stating that one must do what is most beneficial for the

child, and that this principle cannot be overruled by experimentation or

legislation.

 

Cuba Garcia expressed that the experiment was financed by the American

company. The Minister of Health for Peru, Pilar Mazzeti, said that they

" have requested the director of the hospital, the director of the

National Institute of Health, as well as other organizations involved in

this matter to provide information to see if they have fulfilled all the

requirements needed to perform work particularly on minors " .

 

The Nutritional Research Institute, which performed the experiment on

behalf of Ventria in Peru, has stated that in this clinical study all

norms at the national and international levels was respected with regards

both to human subjects research as well as bioethics.

 

 

 

 

 

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