WEEKLY WATCH number 198 (2/11/2006) | |
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor Dear all: This week we have news of an important new paper summarizing the woeful state of GM food safety research (FOOD SAFETY). It's one of those items we should forward to all our friends and contacts. The New Zealand government is getting into GM brassicas. Evidently they can't think of any way of keeping pests off cabbages apart from making every cell of the plant express a toxic insecticide (AUSTRALASIA). And protests are mounting in India as the Indian government appears hell bent on killing off the lucrative rice industry by releasing a GM variety (ASIA). Claire [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------ FOOD SAFETY ------------------------------------------------------------ + GENETIC ENGINEERING AND OMITTED HEALTH RESEARCH Amongst the many points the authors note: *very few studies on the possible effects of GM food/feed on potential animal or human consumers have been published in peer-reviewed journals *most of the animal feeding studies performed so far have been designed exclusively to reveal only husbandry production differences [e.g. do animals gain weight satisfactorily on a GM feed compared to a non-GM feed?] The authors conclude, "We are left with a high number of risk issues lacking answers, adding up to a vast area of omitted research, and this falls together in time with a strong tendency towards corporate take-over of publicly funded research institutions and scientists." The paper is by Terje Traavik (scientific director, GENOK-Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology) and Jack Heinemann (NZIGE-New Zealand Institute of Gene Ecology), and is called "Genetic Engineering and Omitted Health Research: Still No Answers to Ageing Questions". To read the article in full (including references) online, go to: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7219 To download the article in full in Word or PDF formats go to: http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=409 ------------------------------------------------------------ + PROTECT RICE EXPORTS FROM GM CONTAMINATION: INDUSTRY RS Seshadri of Tilda Riceland said, "India exports good quantity of long grain basmati and non-basmati rice to Europe, West Asia and Japan at premium prices. Consumers in these regions do not accept GM rice. The US and Chinese exports of rice have taken a heavy beating as their rice is contaminated with GM grains." Seshadri and other exporters held a joint press conference with Greenpeace and with the leading Indian farmers' organisation Bharatiya Kissan Union (BKU), which recently led local farmers in destroying Monsanto-Mahyco's Bt rice. The burning of Mahyco's Bt field trials in Ramapura village in Karnal, Haryana, took place on October 28. R S Seshadri, who is also a member of the All-India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA), which represents exporters like Satnam Overseas, Sunstar, and Kohinoor, said, "Indian rice is GM-free and we want to keep it that way." Amira Foods India's managing director Karan Chanana echoed similar sentiments. "GM basmati could spell the death knell for the industry... We are not prepared for its consequences. Hence India should not allow GM rice on its soil." |