February 18, 1999. Copyright, 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved

GM FOOD STIRS UP A STORM
By Margot Nesdale

LONDON, February 18, Graphic News: WHILE ÒFrankenstein foodÓ has whipped up public hysteria in Britain it is merely the latest in a long line of food scares which have rocked the nation.
Britons have been told they might get the brain-destroying Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating sheep (not to mention cattle), a bowel disorder called CrohnÕs disease from drinking pasteurised milk, and now a damaged immune system from consuming genetically modified foods.
In the past 15 years they have become paranoid about salmonella in eggs, listeria in cheese, antibiotics and hormones in meat and pesticide residues and phthalates (benzene-related compounds) in almost everything.
But most infamous of all was the scare about beef from cows infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which sparked a huge government inquiry.
Fears over genetically modified food have erupted following a scandal which has split the Government and led to calls for a moratorium on the release of GM food.
The Tories are demanding the resignation of Science Minister Lord Sainsbury, after it was revealed he owns a company that controls the worldwide patent rights over a gene used in GM foods.
The same gene is at the centre of a controversy which saw the suspension from work last year of Arpad Pusztai, an eminent scientist who was forced to end his publicly funded research at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen after speaking out about the potential risk to humans from GM foods.
Dr PusztaiÕs suppressed preliminary research, funded by a £1.6 million Scottish Office grant, showed that rats fed from GM potatoes suffered damage to their vital organs and a weakened immune system.
The institute discredited his work and accused him of misinterpreting his results but 20 established scientists have since re-examined his conclusions and backed his findings.
The results are expected to knock the mushrooming biotechnology industry, which has already been shaken by widespread public concern over the impact of GM foods on consumers and the environment generally.
The European Union has moved to allay consumer fears over the GM potato, saying it would never have made it on to supermarket shelves.
ÒNobody has ever asked us to approve it and it is extremely unlikely it would have passed food regulationsÓ, said Commission spokesman Peter Jorgenson.
The Government says only three GM food products are now sold in Britain: a tomato paste, some soya and maize. But most British cheeses contain the genetically modified enzyme chymosin, which is used as a substitute for the curdling agent rennet.
The EUÕs move coincides with an industry initiative to get European consumers to accept GM food by rigorously separating and labelling every trace of GM material Ð an idea called Òidentity preservationÓ.
Food safety issues do not cause as much panic in the United States, but food research experts say that is largely because the U.S. has never admitted any problems and the Food and Drug Administration is still widely trusted.
GM crops, mostly corn, potatoes and soybeans, are designed to produce their own insecticide or to withstand herbicides and can turn up anonymously in foods like french fries. Because no evidence has been found that GM foods are dangerous, the FDA does not require any special labelling.
Britain and most of Europe, however, feel very differently. Ecoterrorists have destroyed 30 of the 340-plus crop trials in the UK and the chemical giant Monsanto has sought injunctions against two activist groups.
The ConsumersÕ Association, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association and the Food Commission are among those calling for restrictions to GM foods.
Governments are holding a summit in Cartagena, Colombia, this week to develop a protocol to regulate the movement between countries of genetically engineered organisms and their products.
Once agreed, it will be attached to the Convention on Biological Diversity and will be binding in international law.
Many governments, particularly the United States, are pressing for a weak protocol in response to heavy industry lobbying.
/ENDS.

Sources: Scientific American, BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, Splice