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Animal and Human Health News

PORKER

Well-known member
GM Crop Trials Spark Fears for Public Health
By Dianne Cordeman
Epoch Times Hamilton staff Apr 03, 2007


New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research has applied to the Environmental Risk Management Authority for a 10-year field trial in the South Island on genetically engineered brassicas – cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage and kale. (Getty Images) Most people are unaware that they are already eating genetically engineered contaminants, researcher Dr Victoria Metcalf says.

The geneticist at the University of Canterbury said health watchdog Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), has made it nearly impossible to avoid genetically modified (GM) foods in New Zealand.

She said GM soy, corn, canola and potatoes had all been approved by FSANZ and GM ingredients need not be declared on product labels if they form less than 1 percent of the total ingredients.

Dr Metcalf said FSANZ carries out independent testing for food safety but has a policy that "GM food is safe until it is proven to be harmful".

New Zealand's Food Safety Minister Annette King is seeking a review of an FSANZ proposal to approve High-Lysine Corn LY038 for animal and human consumption following concerns raised by the public.

Associate Professor for Biosecurity at the University of Canterbury, Jack Heinemann, said high levels of lysine combined with plant sugars results in compounds known as AGEs which have been associated with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and other health conditions.

The lysine content of GM corn is 50 times higher than that of normal corn, he said in a GE-Free newsletter.

The AGE content of food increases with cooking, processing and storage, which could compound problems if GM corn was used in infant formula and cereals which are processed under high heat.

GE trial for South Island

The New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research, an independent Government-owned company, has applied to the Environmental Risk Management Authority for a field trial on genetically engineered brassicas – cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage and kale.

The trials would be run in the South Island over 10 years, but experts say these crops could affect human and animal health, sustainability of farming, and damage export opportunities.

The European Union and Japan have already closed their doors to GE crops.

The GE brassicas would have resistance to insects from genes derived from Bacillus thuringensis (Bt), which has long been used as an anti-insecticide field spray by farmers. GE Bt threatens not only caterpillars and butterflies, but human, animal and crop health, experts say.

GM-Free New Zealand president Claire Bleakley said these crops can not be grown without contaminating other crops, and some animals have died following exposure to Bt foods. Adverse effects have also been observed "in people handling and living near Bt crops", she added.

In an address to Dunedin farming consultants in 2005, former Food & Crop researcher, Elvira Dommisse, said plants genetically engineered with Bt are up to 100 times more toxic than the bacterium.

A line of GM corn engineered with bt insecticide, LON 863, is approved by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and FSANZ for consumption, despite a 90-day trial by French researchers in 2005 that showed significant liver and kidney toxicity and other abnormalities in rats, she said.

Warning from the US

Dr Steinbrecher noted in GM Watch that millions of honey bees in the US have disappeared over the last half year and there was evidence that insect resistant crops producing the Bt toxin were to blame.

He said this was a great concern because these bees were responsible for pollenating many crops and indirectly generate an estimated $US14 billion a year for the economy, he said.

Australia keeps options open

Agriculture and Food Minister for Western Australia, Kim Chance, has recommended their GM moratorium continue until more is known about GM crops.

Mr Chance said Australia was taking the time to understand the effect of GM crops and leave options open.

"Advocates for adopting the technology now perhaps do not realise it, but by doing so we would close those options. This is because GM technology is effectively irreversible," he said.

Mr Chance urged FSANZ to undertake thorough testing of the GM corn, and other GM products themselves, before they are approved.

"FSANZ should stop relying on the data supplied from the GM companies and conduct their own independent feeding trials and stringent analysis of the GM products that are proposed for human consumption in Australia and New Zealand," he said.

GM crops are modified by the insertion of foreign genes into their DNA through laboratory techniques.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
List of Lawsuits from one law firm dealing with bad food and illness.

Link; http://www.marlerclark.com/news/notable-news-index.htm
 

Econ101

Well-known member
I have used the Bacillus thuringensis (Bt), as an environmental control for those little white moths that eat your cabbage, broccoli and other brassica crops. It works very, very well. It can get washed off with the next rain and it does tend to stay on the outside leaves it is sprayed on. Eating the equivalent of a teaspoon of the spray, which might be the case when it is evenly distributed via genetic engineering, might not be so good for you.

The technology to do these things is definitely passing the testing to make sure they are safe. If you happen to grow 40% more crop with this gm altered plant, do we really know that it will be safe without a lot of testing? People who push these sort of things should not be able to use the public as guinea pigs. They should not be able to keep profits or investments if they turn out to be dangerous. The corporate structure of limited liability and a slow justice system allows this. Limiting punative damages, as tort reform proposes, also allows this. It is just a little crazy.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
DURBIN CALLS FOR BETTER OVERSIGHT OF PET FOOD INSPECTIONS; TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR COMPANIES

Thursday, April 12, 2007


[WASHINGTON, DC] - At a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing today, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on the Bush Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take meaningful action in addressing problems in federal regulation of the pet food industry. The hearing comes in the wake of a widespread recall of contaminated pet food.

"Many cats, dogs and other pets, considered members of the family are now suffering as a result of a deeply flawed pet food inspection system," said Durbin. "The FDA's response to this situation has been wholly inadequate - we need to establish standardized inspections, impose penalties on companies who delay reporting health problems and increase communication between the FDA and the state inspectors so that we can catch potential problems more quickly. These sound like basics steps but the FDA has failed to put them in place."

At the hearing, Durbin heard testimony from FDA officials and outside experts including Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, the Director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine; Duane Ekedahl, Executive Director of the Pet Food Institute; Eric Nelson, President of the American Association of Feed Control Officers; Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, Veterinarian and Dr. Claudia A. Kirk, Associate Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Durbin said the FDA's response to the problem has been problematic and urged the FDA to take action in three specific areas:


Delay in reporting. According to materials supplied to Durbin's office, it appears Menu Foods, Inc. first noticed a potential problem on February 20, 2007 but did not contact FDA until March 15, 2007. In the meantime, other companies were selling tainted product and the supplier wasn't aware that it had provided wheat gluten contaminated with melamine. Durbin wants companies that delay reporting to the FDA and endanger human and animal health to face penalties.

Lack of inspections. According to testimony today, the Menu Foods facility in Emporia, Kansas where many of these products were made had never been inspected by the FDA. The agency has been relying on the states to conduct inspections, but the FDA has jurisdiction over all pet food manufacturing facilities and the ultimate responsibility to ensure facilities comply with FDA standards. Where there should be federal regulation, there is instead a patchwork of state inspection systems and voluntary guidance. Durbin wants to require the FDA to work with the states to establish a standardized set of regulations and inspection requirements.

Incomplete data and reporting from the FDA. Blogs and nonprofit websites have filled a gap and become the most efficient way to share information on contaminations. Durbin wants to direct the FDA to create a similar information sharing system that would allow state veterinarians, pet owners and others to alert the FDA of possible contaminations.
Durbin said the list of problems associated with food safety - both pet food and safety of the human food supply - is growing and the federal government must act.

The Illinois senator said legislation he has introduced to consolidate all federal food safety responsibilities into a single, independent agency has taken on new urgency because of a possibly heightened need to respond quickly and effectively to any acts of bioterrorism or agroterrorism. Currently, there are at least 12 different federal agencies and 35 different laws governing food safety. With overlapping jurisdictions, federal agencies often lack accountability on food safety-related issues.

"I did not call this hearing to create false concern, but we heard testimony today that the melamine-tainted wheat gluten was supplied as a 'food grade' additive and may have made it into the human food supply, but was pulled before anyone was harmed. This is very serious problem and we need to make changes to a system in which chronic shortcomings could turn critical," Durbin said.

The non-partisan U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has been unequivocal in its recommendation for consolidation of federal food safety programs. In February of this year, the GAO deemed federal oversight of food safety as "high risk" to the economy and public health and safety. Over the past two decades, GAO has also issued numerous reports on topics such as food recalls, food safety inspections and the transport of animal feeds. Each of these reports highlights the current fragmentation and inconsistent organization of the various agencies involved in food safety oversight.

Durbin and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced legislation that calls for the development of a single food safety agency and the implementation of a food safety program to standardize American food safety activities (S 654 - The Safe Food Act.). Durbin and DeLauro have worked on this effort for over a decade in Congress and the bill has gained momentum from recent events.
 
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