GMW: FSANZ food regulator criticised over new GM corn

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GMW: FSANZ food regulator criticised over new GM corn

" GM WATCH " <info

Sat, 5 Aug 2006 23:15:49 +0100

 

 

 

 

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QUOTE: " Among the types of potential hazards that this food poses are

the creation of compounds that are known to be associated with important

diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer " - Jack

Heinemann, director of the Centre for Integrated Research on Biosafety

at the University of Canterbury, and a former US National Institutes of

Health scientist

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FSANZ food regulator criticised over new GM corn

By Anna Salleh

ABC Science Online

Australian Broadcasting Corporation, August 4 2006

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1705835.htm

 

Australia and New Zealand's food regulator is failing to apply its own

safety standards, or those of international guidelines, in assessing a

new-generation GM corn for human consumption, critics say.

 

But Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) defends its so-far

favourable assessment of the high-lysine corn, which it says is intended

for animal feed and is unlikely to enter the human food chain.

 

The Centre for Integrated Research on Biosafety at the University of

Canterbury has twice formally notified FSANZ of its concerns about the GM

corn, LY038, which has been engineered to contain a bacterial gene that

allows the accumulation of high levels of lysine.

 

" Among the types of potential hazards that this food poses are the

creation of compounds that are known to be associated with important

diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer, " says

centre

director Associate Professor Jack Heinemann.

 

Heinemann says while the compounds, advanced glycoxidation endproducts

(AGEs), are also produced when cooking conventional foods, he is

concerned about potential levels in LY038 corn.

 

He says corn is normally extremely low in the compounds that combine to

create AGEs.

 

But he says higher-than-normal levels of lysine in the LY038 and high

sugar levels, combining under heat, have the potential to raise AGE

levels.

 

" [LY038] has the potential to produce 100 times more [AGEs] than normal

corn, " says Heinemann.

 

Draft approval by FSANZ

 

In March this year FSANZ recommended LY038 be approved as safe for

human consumption in a report to its board.

 

" Food derived from corn line LY038 is as safe and wholesome as food

derived from other corn varieties, " the report says.

 

But the necessary tests to prove the corn is safe for humans have not

been done, says Heinemann, a geneticist and former US National

Institutes of Health scientist.

 

He says LY038 is the first of a new-generation of GM foods being

specifically designed to be nutritionally different from their

conventional

counterpart. And FSANZ's decision could set a precedent on how such

foods are assessed.

 

Tests of cooked corn?

 

Heinemann says FSANZ only considered safety tests that looked at raw

and not cooked corn.

 

But the international standards-setting body Codex Alimentarius

recommends heating, cooking and processing conditions be applied to GM

material in an assessment of their safety for human food, says Heinemann.

 

He also says FSANZ only considered 21-day animal studies and not longer

ones, which might have picked up diseases like cancer. Heinemann says

FSANZ should also look into human feeding studies.

 

Lastly, Heinemann criticises FSANZ's decision to compare the

composition of the corn to another GM corn rather than its non-GM

parent variety,

as recommended by its own advice, and by Codex.

 

Safety assessment defended

 

FSANZ says testing was adequate.

 

" We are satisfied that we have all the scientific information necessary

to make a sound decision on the safety and nutritional adequacy of high

lysine corn LY308, " it says.

 

" We have considered the potential for production of AGEs, but have no

concerns. "

 

FSANZ says Codex only asks regulators to consider testing heated or

processed GM foods. But as the raw corn has much lower levels of lysine

compared to other foods regularly consumed, FSANZ did not consider the

tests necessary.

 

It also says the GM corn used for comparison was a " better comparator

than the non-GM parental line " .

 

FSANZ says it assessed the corn as if it was any other GM food.

 

" The safety assessment conducted on LY038 is as rigorous and thorough

as for any GM food product, and assumes that if approved, corn from line

LY038 could be routinely entering the food supply and not present just

as an occasional inadvertent ingredient, " states FSANZ's report.

 

Will it enter the human food supply?

 

FSANZ also says the corn is " unlikely " to end up in human food and is

only being assessed as a precaution in case of an accidental mix-up.

 

One such mix-up occurred in 2000, when Starlink GM corn, also intended

for animal feed, became mixed in the US food chain.

 

Because it was not registered for human consumption the contamination

affected exports and cost the manufacturer a $100 million in lost sales.

 

Canada approved the use of LY038 in the human food supply last month.

 

The FSANZ board is due to consider the corn in late September.

 

 

 

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