Posted on 11-2-2002
GE
In Through Front Door
By Deborah Hope, The Australian, February 07, 2002
Note - this is Aus information, but most is relevant to NZ since
ANZFA
regulates for both countries. Also note the greenpeace online
action about
the Philippines, at the end of this item. You need to fill out
your address
to make it work.
In reports released yesterday, the nation's food safety watchdog
recommended approval of genetically modified varieties of corn
and canola,
which are likely to reach Australia's supermarket shelves as
ingredients
in breakfast cereals, bread, pastries and other snack foods.
And shoppers might not be able to identify which foods contain
the GM corn
and canola due to a loophole in new labelling laws introduced
in December.
Under the new regulations, food products have to be labelled
as containing
genetically modified food only where the changes are evident
in the final
product for sale. In some processing, such as distilling canola
oil from
canola, the DNA is destroyed. Because of this, said the Australia
New
Zealand Food Authority's Michael Dack, the genetic modification
is not
evident in the final product and escapes the labelling requirement.
Dr Dack
said that only about 5 per cent of supermarket products required
labelling.
But a much higher proportion might include genetically modified
ingredients.
Nearly two-thirds of Australians polled on the subject 18 months
ago said
they would not buy GM foods. More than 90 per cent supported
laws
requiring such foods to be labelled. The corn and canola recommended
for
approval have been modified to resist herbicides, and the corn,
developed
by multinational Monsanto,
has also undergone genetic changes that will give it protection
against
insect pests. The move brings to 22 the number of genetically
modified
foods the Australia New Zealand Food Authority has recommended
for approval
since July 2000. Of these, 10 have received final approval,
four are
pending ministerial approval and five are under public consultation.
In
seven of these cases, Monsanto has been the applicant. None
of the approved
GM crops is grown in Australia.
So far only genetically altered cotton and carnations have passed
the
necessary regulatory hurdles for commercial production. Final
approval
means only that Australian manufacturers can import the products
as
ingredients. ANZFA acting managing director Greg Roche said
that on the
basis of the available evidence, the food authority believed
food derived
from the two GM crops was as safe for human consumption as conventional
varieties. "I can say with some certainty that we know more
about the
genetic make-up of these GM foods than any other food in the
food supply,"
Mr Roche said. Judy Carman, a member of the Public Health Association's
Food, Legislation and Regulation Advisory Group, said the evidence
ANZFA
required to secure approval was not sufficiently rigorous. "My
position is
there is no evidence genetically engineered foods are safe,
because there
is no evidence," Dr Carman said. "It's a big black box," she
added.
See also abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_476320.htm Green
Party
challenges claim by food safety watchdog
Stop Filipino president GMA from dropping a promise to label
GMOs. This
cyber action only takes 1 minute - please forward to other GE
food,
consumer and environmental lists worldwide and write to GMA
before
14th feb (Valentines day) To send automatically go to: act.greenpeace.org
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