GMW: GM - THE COVER UP/Time to guard the shelves

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GMW: GM - THE COVER UP/Time to guard the shelves

" GM WATCH " <info

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 09:07:31 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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The Independent on Sunday

1.GM: The cover-up - LEAD STORY/FRONT PAGE

2.Time to guard the shelves - LEADING ARTICLE

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1.GM: The cover-up

Revealed: Government food watchdog gave green light to supermarkets

to

sell 'illegal' genetically modified rice

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

The Independent on Sunday, 17 September 2006

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1604094.ece

 

Britain's official food safety watchdog has privately told

supermarkets

that it will not stop them selling an illegal GM rice to the public.

 

Documents seen by this newspaper show that the Food Standards Agency

assured major manufacturers and retailers 10 days ago that it would

not

make them withdraw the rice - at the same time as it was telling the

public it should not be allowed to go on sale.

 

The environmental group Friends of the Earth has already found GM

material in two types of own-brand rice sold in Morrisons

supermarkets - in

direct contravention of food safety regulations - and believes the

GM

rice is likely to be widespread throughout Britain.

 

But the agency has not carried out its own tests for modified rice

in

products on the market, and has not instructed retailers to do so.

It

says that the rice is safe, but some scientists disagree.

 

Last night, Peter Ainsworth, the shadow Environment Secretary,

described the agency's conduct as " a massive scandal " and said

it " smelt of a

cover-up " . He said he would be asking for an official investigation

into

whether the agency had broken the law.

 

Legally, no GM material is allowed to go on sale in Britain or any

other EU country. But last month the Bush administration admitted it

had

found a modified material, which had not even received safety

clearance

in the US, in long-grain rice intended for export.

 

The unauthorised rice, which is listed as LLRICE601, was developed

by

Bayer CropScience to tolerate weedkiller, and tested on US farms

between

1998 and 2001. The company decided not to market it. Nevertheless it

has turned up widely in US rice, possibly because pollen from the

tested

rice spread to conventional crops. The European Commission says that

it

has been found in 33 of 162 samples of rice imported from the US.

 

The EC last month banned any further imports unless they could be

proved to be clear of the GM rice, and instructed governments to

test

products already on the market to make sure that they did not

contain it.

 

The European health and consumer protection commissioner, Markos

Kyprianou, said it should not be allowed to enter the food chain " in

any

circumstances " .

 

Two big Swiss supermarket chains have already banned all US long-

grain

rice from sale.

 

The Food Standards Agency publicly announced that " the presence of

this

GM material in rice on sale in the UK is illegal under European food

law " , adding: " Food retailers are responsible for ensuring the food

they

sell does not contain unauthorised GM material. "

 

But on 5 September, a senior agency official, Claire Baynton,

privately

met major retailers and food manufacturers. According to records of

the

meeting seen by The Independent on Sunday, she said the agency did

not

expect companies to trace products and withdraw them.

 

The agency says it told the companies at the meeting that it was

their

responsibility to ensure that the food they sold did not contain GM

material, but that it would not " require " them to test for it or

withdraw

products if found.

 

It says that it has " not carried out tests of products on the

market "

and " has not issued any instructions to retailers " to do so. The

agency

says that modified rice does not present a safety concern and is

advising people who may have US rice at home to continue to eat it.

But some

scientists say it could give cause for " concern over its potential

allergenicity " .

 

Friends of the Earth has found GM material in two samples of

Morrisons

American long-grain rice and American long-grain brown rice,

although

it was not able to verify that it was LLRICE601. Morrisons accepts

that

selling any GM rice is illegal. It cleared its shelves of the

products

" as a precautionary measure " immediately after being informed of the

findings.

 

Clare Oxborrow, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: " The

discovery of illegal GM ingredients is very worrying. The Food

Standards

Agency has failed to take action to identify and withdraw

contaminated

food, so it is likely that more illegal rice will reach the plates

of

unsuspecting customers.

 

" Instead of down-playing this contamination incident, and delaying

action, the agency should be taking urgent steps to prevent illegal

GM rice

from being sold in our shops. "

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2.Leading article: Time to guard the shelves

The Independent on Sunday, 17 September 2006

http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article1604111.ece

 

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The question of who will guard the

guards is raised again by our revelation today that the Food

Standards

Agency has privately told food manufacturers and retailers that it

will not

stop them selling an illegal GM rice. The Agency has already, in its

short life, done much to undermine public confidence in its

competence

and impartiality, taking a seemingly uncritical approach to GM food

despite evidence of cause for concern. It has lost no opportunity to

attack

organic produce. Even a review of its own performance last year

found

the " vast majority " of its stakeholders considered it biased.

 

There were signs that the agency might have begun to change its

ways,

but today's news shows that it is, in fact, worse than ever. The

safety,

or otherwise, of the GM rice is irrelevant. The point is that it is

illegal to sell it in Britain. Yet the Agency is making no real

effort to

find out whether it is on the shelves, or to make sure that

retailers

do likewise. It has also indicated that it will not force companies

to

withdraw the rice if it is found. That is a scandal. It is high time

the

Agency assumed its proper role at last - putting the interests of

consumers above those of the industry.

 

 

 

 

 

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