Acceptance of GM food is declining in the US according to Carol Tucker Foreman (item 1, below), director of Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute. Polls demonstrate the decline in public acceptance, says Tucker Forman.

Carol Tucker Forman cannot be dismissed as some anti-industry radical. Tucker Forman's a former Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and at one time was a highly-paid Washington lobbyist for Monsanto, working to promote its controversial genetically engineered cattle drug, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).

Meanwhile, oncerns have been raised in Australia (item 2) about GM cottonseed oil being included in food products.

Indefinite or temporary bans are in place in most Australian states to prevent the growing of GM food crops. But rabid pro-GM entomologist, Rick Roush, from the University of California Riverside, who was formerly based in Australia, says the fact GM cottonseed oil is used in fast food preparation and sold as vegetable oil makes a mockery of the GM-free claims of some states.

"It's really a polite fiction to claim that cotton is not a food crop because roughly 40 per cent of our cooking oil comes from cotton. "

According to the article, it is estimated that about 90 per cent of cotton farms in New South Wales and Queensland cultivate GM cotton. What the article fails to point out is that GM cotton has never been approved for food use!

1.Declining consumer confidence for GM in US
2.Consumers not happy about GM cotton seed oil
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1.Engineered foods losing their luster
Concerns about dangers offset benefit of low costs, abundance
Nov. 03, 2004
ON THE TABLE SUZANNE HAVALA HOBBS
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/food/10088491.htm?1c

What do you get when you cross a salmon with a tomato?

Trouble, some folks think. Others see a way to protect the environment and provide more food for the world's hungry.

Whatever the truth, polls show public acceptance of food biotechnology is declining, says Carol Tucker Foreman, director of Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute. Foreman was one of several speakers who addressed food biotechnology at a meeting of the Association of Food Journalists last month in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Biotech foods are also called genetically modified -- GMO -- or genetically engineered -- GE -- foods. An even more precise term is "transgenic foods."

The terms refer to a process that removes genes from a plant, animal or microbe and places them into another organism. The transferred genes work as codes for the production of proteins. If all goes as planned, the genes confer desirable qualities to the other organism.

For example, a transferred gene may cause a plant to produce its own pesticide, reducing the amount or strength of pesticides that farmers need to apply to crops. That can save money, reduce contamination and increase yields.

The transfer of genes from one living thing to another is common in nature. There's nothing inherently risky about eating foods that have been altered this way, according to Greg Jaffe, director of the Biotechnology Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

Bees, for instance, carry pollen from one flower to another, crossing the genetic material of plant with another.

On the other hand, fish don't naturally breed with cucumbers. So when humans engineer gene transfers that wouldn't occur naturally, some people have concerns.

The concerns, according to Jaffe:

* Allergies. A new gene or protein may cause an allergic reaction in some people. For instance, an allergen from Brazil nuts was once transferred to soybeans. The problem was caught before the soybeans entered the food supply.

* Toxicity. A GE food may have a toxic effect on the humans who eat it or on other plants or animals. A pesticide-producing plant might harm beneficial insects.

* Other toxins or antinutrients could be created. There may also be environmental repercussions, such as insect resistance, and social or ethical issues, such as the potential for a few large, multinational companies to gain control over the world's food supply, and the need for independent agencies to determine whether foods are safe.

Conference speakers, including Foreman, Tucker and two others representing government, industry and researchers, agreed that Bt foods now on the market in the U.S. are safe.

The concern is what will happen in the future. Right now, our regulatory process is flawed. According to Foreman and Jaffe, Canada and every country in Europe that produces GE foods have a mandatory approval process. Only in the United States is the process secretive and voluntary.

That leaves consumers suspicious of GE foods. It also increases the risk that oversights could result in harmful products.

The U.S. needs meaningful regulatory controls to govern the use of gene science, so the world can enjoy its benefits while minimizing its risks.

Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC; [email protected]; www.onthetable.net.
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2.Concerns about GM cotton seed oil
Australia's GM free status a 'polite fiction'
ABC Radio
Sunday, October 31, 2004. 10:06am (AEDT)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1231507.htm

Concerns have been raised about genetically modified (GM) cottonseed oil being included in food products in Australia.

Indefinite or temporary bans are in place in most Australian states to prevent the growing of GM food crops.

Entomology expert Rick Roush, from the University of California, says the fact GM cottonseed oil is used in fast food preparation and sold as vegetable oil makes a mockery of the GM-free claims of some states.

"It's really a polite fiction to claim that cotton is not a food crop because roughly 40 per cent of our cooking oil comes from cotton."

Australian cotton growers say GM crops are a benefit to their industry and the environment, despite the concerns about cottonseed oil.

It is estimated about 90 per cent of cotton farms in NSW and Queensland cultivate GM cotton.

Chairman of Cotton Australia, Geoff Hewitt, says GM crops have been grown in Australia for up to seven years.

"In the early days it performed to a mediocre level but latterly we're getting great results from the GM crops that we're growing, both the herbicide and the insect resistant lines," he said.

"We're absolutely convinced that this is where the future in agriculture lies, not only in the cotton industry but globally."

The national GM watchdog, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has granted 34 licenses for field testing of GM crops.

GM trials are underway in NSW, Tasmania, WA, Queensland and Victoria.

The OGTR has concluded that seven varieties of GM canola pose no greater risk to human health, safety and the environment than non-GM canola.

GM cotton, which has been cultivated in Australia since 1996, is the only GM crop in commercial production.

OGTR has approved commercial production of GM canolas in Western Australia, South Australia, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania but they have either imposed moratoriums on canola, or declared themselves GM- free.

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