GM food in Australia

GMO:What is it & am I eating it?

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Genetically modified food: Australia

“GM foods are genetically modified using biotechnology. Common foods include maize, soybeans, oilseed rape (canola), chicory, squash, potatoes, pineapples and strawberries. GM foods are designed for greater resistance to pests and viruses, higher nutritional value and longer shelf life. However, their safety, potential risks and ethical concerns are still being debated. Laws to regulate labelling of GM foods vary.” Source: Victorian government Australia, Better health channel.

The above is a state government approved statement. We could look at the last line that says ‘… their safety, potential risks and ethical concerns are still being debated’, and stop there and logically hold these products until further testing potentially proves them safe, however GM foods are slowly making their way onto our plates. So let’s look at some of the benefits and concerns.

GM benefits:

$·        Drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant crops

$·        Inexpensive food

$·        Foods with longer shelf life

$·        Food with medical benefits (nutraceutical) edible vaccines inserted

$·        Disease and insect resistant crops

GM risks & dangers:

$·        New allergens can be created- an example was the brazil nut gene introduced to soybeans. It was found that people allergic to brazil nuts became allergic to soy beans. This project has since ceased.

$·        Antibiotic resistance- certain genes are inserted to provide antibiotic resistance. Once taken up by the gut microflora in humans and animals, the effectiveness of antibiotics could be reduced.

$·        Cross-breeding- GM crops can cross-breed with surrounding vegetation. ‘Round-up ready’ or glyphosphate-resistant genes in crops have been shown to transfer to weeds, making the weeds resistant also to the weed killer.

$·        Biodiversity- Bees cannot distinguish GM from non-GM crops and thus cross pollinate with local organic crops.

$·        Pesticide-resistant insects- genetic addition of bio-pesticides into crops encourages spray resistant insects- requiring even stronger, more toxic pesticides to be used.

$·        Cross-contamination- plants that contain bioengineered pharmaceuticals may contaminate other food crops, delivering medicine randomly.

$·        Health effects- Minimal research has been done to ascertain acute and chronic health concerns of GM foods.

Social & Ethical Concerns: What’s really going on here?

“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.”Henry Kissinger- 56th United States Secretary of State.

Health, social and religious issues aside, let’s look at monopolisation.

Interestingly the Victorian state website ‘better health channel’ does state under concerns about GM regarding:

‘The possible monopolisation of the world food market by large multinational companies that control the distribution of GM seeds.’

This brings to mind the company Monsanto, the world’s leading producer of genetically modified seed.

If we look at the history of Monsanto, we see this is the company that tells us GM is safe, but aslo produced agent orange and told us that was safe; an estimated 400,000 people were killed and 500,000 children born with birth defects in Vietnam. They also produced DDT, PCB’s and told us they were safe too. There was a court case in the UK where Monsanto produced a commercial stating that Roundup (their top selling weed killer) was as safe as table salt. They were successfully sued.

Some of the seeds that this company produces ready soon for countries including the third world include ‘terminator seeds’, this produces plants that are sterile. This means that farmers can only plant the seeds once, harvest, then have no seeds to save, thus have to buy more.

There are numerous court cases and accusations related to Monsanto regarding suicides of farmers in India. There are numerous individuals that hold or have held positions at Monsanto that also work or have worked in the American FDA, Environmental Protection Agency, CIA and the Supreme Court.

Australian Regulation of GM

In Australia, GM foods are regulated under Standard 1.5.2- Food produced using gene technology from the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

A GM food will only be approved for sale if it is as safe and nutritious as it’s conventional counterparts. They test for:

$·        Nutritional content

$·        Toxicity (using similar test to conventional food)

$·        Allergic reaction

$·        Stability of gene

$·        Unintended gene effects

Long term effects are difficult to estimate.

GM Labelling in Australia

Since December 2002, Australian law requires that GM food or food with ingredients must be labelled on the package.

But….

Special labels are NOT required for:

$·        ‘Highly refined’ foods that no longer contain the altered DNA or protein like oil

$·        GM food additives or processing aids

$·        GM flavours less than 0.1 per cent of the food by weight

$·        Food prepared at point of sale (take away food and restaurant food does not need to be labelled)

GM food in Australia

$·        Soy imported from US: found in chocolates, potato chips, margarine, mayonnaise, biscuits and bread

$·        Cottonseed oil: Frying, mayonnaise and salad dressings

$·        Imported Corn: For cattle feed, breakfast cereal, bread, corn chips and gravy mix.

$·        Other: Potatoes, canola oil, rice, sugar beet, yeast, cauliflower and coffee.