Contamination Report Reveals Worldwide Illegal Spread of GE Crops

[nosmokes]

Contamination Report Reveals Worldwide Illegal Spread of Genetically Engineered Crops

PRESS RELEASE: 8th March 2006

First contamination report reveals worldwide illegal spread of genetically
engineered crops

Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK call for urgent adoption of international
biosafety standards

The first report into the extent to which genetically engineered (GE)
organisms have 'leaked' into the environment - released today - reveals a
disturbing picture of widespread contamination, illegal planting and
negative agricultural side effects.

The report is a summary of incidents uncovered by the on-line Contamination
Register (1) set up by Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK. It reveals a catalogue
of highly disturbing incidents right across the world, including

* Pork meat from genetically engineered pigs being sold to consumers

* Ordinary crops being contaminated with GE crops containing pharmaceuticals

* Growing and international distribution of illegal antibiotic resistant
Maize seeds

* Planting of outlawed GE crops which have been smuggled into countries

* Mixing of unapproved GE crops in food, including shipments of food aid

* Inadvertent mixing of different GE strains even in high profile scientific
field trials

The report reveals 113 such cases worldwide, involving 39 countries - twice
as many countries as are officially allowed to grow GE crops since they were
first commercialised in 1996. Worryingly, the frequency of these cases is
increasing, with 11 countries affected in 2005 alone. Contamination has even
been found in countries conducting supposedly "carefully controlled"
high-profile farm-scale evaluations, such as the UK.

"This may well only be the tip of the iceberg, as there is no official
global or national contamination register so far," said Dr. Sue Mayer of
GeneWatch UK, who leads the team of investigators. "Most incidents of
contamination are actually kept as confidential business information by
companies as well as public authorities."

Greenpeace is calling for a mandatory international register of /all/ such
events to be set up, along with the adoption of minimum standards of
identification and labelling of all international shipments of GE crops.
"Without such biosafety standards ,the global community will have no chance
of tracing and recalling dangerous GMOs, should this become necessary." said
Benedikt Haerlin of Greenpeace International's Biosafety Protocol delegation.

The publication of the report comes only days before the latest meeting of
the 132 countries who have signed the Biosafety Protocol (2), which is to
establish standards of safety and information on GE crops in global food and
feed trade. At their last meeting an imminent agreement was blocked by only
two member states, Brazil and New Zealand. They were backed by the major GE
exporting countries USA, Argentina and Canada, who are not members of the
Protocol and want to restrict required identification to a meaningless note
that a shipment "may contain" GE.

"All of these countries have national legislation to protect themselves from
illegal GE imports. Still they want to deny the same rights and level of
information to less developed countries, with no national Biosafety-laws and
means to enforce them," concluded Haerlin. "Do they really want such
unethical double standards and create dumping grounds for unidentified and
illegal GE imports? We hope that Brazil, who will be hosting this meeting,
will not betray the developing countries and cater to large agro-businesses
at the expense of the environment."

For further details contact:
Benedikt Haerlin, tel [phone], fax [phone] mobile +49 173
9997555
Greenpeace USA: Prof. Doreen Stabinsky , tel. [phone]
Greenpeace China: Isabelle Meister [phone] ext 135
GeneWatch UK, Dr Sue Mayer, tel [phone]

Notes to editors
1. The GM Contamination Register is online at
/www.gmcontaminationregister.org.
The full report is also available at www.greenpeace.org/bsp2006 and
www.genewatch.org/publications/reports/contamination report final.doc

2. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety under the Convention on Biological
Diversity is an international treaty to establish minimum international
safety standards for genetically engineered organisms ratified by 132
states. http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety

3. An overview of national legislation on imports and labelling of GE
organisms world wide including a map of potential GE dumping grounds as well
as import and export figures is available online at
http://www.greenpeace.org/bsp2006

****************************************************************************

This GMO news service is underwritten by a generous grant from the Newman's
Own Foundation, edited by Thomas Wittman and is a production of the
Ecological Farming Association. Please join us and become a member at
www.eco-farm.org <http://www.eco-farm.org/> . To be removed from this list,
reply to any email with "remove" in the header.
****************************************************************************

[elehhhhna]

1. don't you know greenpeace is a terra org?

[mom cat]

2. True ... it wants to save terra firma.

[nosmokes]

6. and it's one of the more sedate terra orgs that i'm proud to be a

a card carryin member of....:evilgrin:

[dogday]

3. Ordinary crops being contaminated with GE crops containing pharmaceuticals

I wonder what type of pharmaceuticals we are talking about?

[leftchick]

5. many types...

Read here...

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/faqs-pharmaceutical-and-industrial-crops.html

1. What is new about the report A Growing Concern?

A Growing Concern is the first systematic analysis by agricultural experts documenting the magnitude of the challenge of protecting the food supply from contamination by crops engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals (known collectively as "pharma crops"). The experts warn that the food supply is vulnerable to contamination by pharma crops unless substantial changes are made in the ways and places these crops are grown and managed.

2. What kinds of new substances do pharma crops produce?

Pharmaceuticals to treat or prevent diseases in humans and animals, including:

Proteins for healing wounds and treating conditions such as anemia, liver cirrhosis, and cystic fibrosis; anticoagulants; blood substitutes; and hormones.
Vaccines for conferring immunity to diseases, including vaccines against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, hepatitis B, rabies, cholera, piglet diarrhea, and foot-and-mouth disease.
Antibodies that home in on disease-causing molecules with great specificity, including antibodies against bacteria causing tooth decay and antibodies to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Industrial chemicals used in manufacturing and other industrial processes, such as:

Laccase, an enzyme employed by the paper-pulping industry.
Trypsin, an enzyme used in detergent manufacturing and leather tanning.
Research chemicals for diagnostic and research laboratories, such as:
Avidin, a protein used for purifying other proteins.
Beta-glucuronidase, an enzyme used extensively in plant molecular biology research.
3. To what extent is the food supply currently

[file83]

4. Can't wait until the GM "suicide gene" transmutates with regular plants.

Talk about extinction. Jeebus.

[Cronus Protagonist]

7. Sadly, the genie can't be put back in the bottle

Almost makes me weep.

:(

[peacebird]

8. GE crops are why the new Food Labelling laws are being pushed in congress

Dairy providers were p'o-d when consumers started buying NON rBGH dairy products and went to court to stop products from being labelled as NOT containing recumbent Bovine Growth Hormaone.

The GE foods want to be sold without labelling as such because a fair number of consumers do NOT want to buy frankenfood.

The new food laws will likely do away with all state regulations forcing labelling of GE foods.

Consumers will have no way of knowing what they are buying. Does anyone know if this law will twist the organic standards to allow GE crops to be sold as organic with no label of the GE status?

[peacebird]

9. GE crops are why the new Food Labelling laws are being pushed in congress

Dairy providers were p'o-d when consumers started buying NON rBGH dairy products and went to court to stop products from being labelled as NOT containing recumbent Bovine Growth Hormaone.

The GE foods want to be sold without labelling as such because a fair number of consumers do NOT want to buy frankenfood.

The new food laws will likely do away with all state regulations forcing labelling of GE foods.

Consumers will have no way of knowing what they are buying. Does anyone know if this law will twist the organic standards to allow GE crops to be sold as organic with no label of the GE status?

[Trillo]

10. I was just thinking about this in relation to H.R. 4167

(g) No Effect on Certain State Law- Nothing in this section or section 403A relating to a food shall be construed to prevent a State or political subdivision of a State from establishing, enforcing, or continuing in effect a requirement relating to--

`(1) freshness dating, open date labeling, grade labeling, a State inspection stamp, religious dietary labeling, organic or natural designation, returnable bottle labeling, unit pricing, or a statement of geographic origin; or

From thomas.loc.gov

If a state wanted to label something as containing GMO, the proposed regulation doesn't appear to allow that without the petition-to-the-feds approval process. Perhaps if there was a 'religion' of 'no GMO' in foods, then that religion, if it was influential enough, might be allowed a state labeling exception. I don't believe the 'organic' designation includes GMO, but I could be wrong. Anyone know?

[JohnyCanuck]

11. More evidence we live in a corpocracy and our alleged democracy

is a sham. The rules and laws are set up to benefit corporate bottom lines, and the peons and wage slaves can all go to hell.

The "Academic-Industrial-Military Complex" Engineering Life & Mind

The "academic-industrial-military complex" is shaping every aspect of our lives, beginning with the kind of science and scientific research that gets done and gets reported. We are not only losing our right to self-determination and self-sufficiency, but most seriously of all, our right to think differently from the corporate establishment. The suppression of scientific dissent threatens the survival of science and endangers lives.

During most of the period of the Cold War, nuclear physics was the big science that got the lion’s share of public funding. Within the past two decades, giant corporations have been increasingly dictating the kind of science and scientific research that gets done, mostly to fatten themselves at our expense, so they can all the better exploit us for further gain.

Under the banner of the ‘free market’ and ‘free choice’, we are losing our right to self-determination and self-sufficiency in every way: our food, health, social mores, the way we choose to live and most seriously of all, our right to think differently from the corporate establishment.

The suppression of scientific dissent is one of the most serious and visible signs of the "academic-industrial-military complex" at work. It goes against the very grain and essence of what science is: the open, disinterested enquiry into the causes of natural processes.


http://www.i-sis.org.uk/EngineeringLifeAndMind.php

[JohnyCanuck]

12. Kick nt