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.
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.