Food Safety Authority to issue its verdict on GM food risks

IN response to heightened concerns over the safety of genetically modified food among Irish consumers, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland is to issue its verdict on the risks, if any, from eating such foods. It will be based on the views of many leading Irish food scientists and geneticists.

They form an expert group on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) affiliated to the authority and have been closely evaluating GM food research for much of the past year. FSAI chief executive Dr Patrick Wall told The Irish Times that such was the concern in recent weeks - reflected in calls to the authority from the public - it felt compelled to issue an opinion "putting the risk in perspective".

In a preliminary comment, he said there was one crop linked with disease which should be banned: the tobacco plant. That said, "there are issues with GM foods relating to the environment and safety, which have to be carefully considered".

There was, Dr Wall said, a case for looking cautiously at the technology. Breeding between related species was "nearly as old as Mendelian genetics". A consequence of this was cows that produce more than 2,000 gallons a year; chickens that mature in 42 days and double-rumped Belgian Blue cattle.

There was no indication of problems with such breeding. But where breeding breaks "the species barrier" - as with some GM foods - there was need for greater caution.

The debate, he said, was not helped by unjustified comparison of BSE with GM foods, as this was linking a disease with a technology. The "heavy-handedness of multinationals", the developers of the technology, had done little to appease an uneasy public. "They have tried to railroad applications. But the technologies involved have potential."

The key to genetic manipulation was "recombinant technology", whereby genetic material from one species was recombined within the genetic framework of another. This was possible since 1969. One of the biggest mistakes was the failure of scientists to explain its implications, he said.

Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna has welcomed the findings of the British Advertising Standards Authority which - according to the Guardian - has upheld complaints that a Monsanto advertising campaign in the UK last year was "confusing, misleading, unproven and wrong". The newspaper claimed a draft ASA report upheld eight out of 13 complaints by environmental groups about a £1 million campaign designed to reassure consumers about the technology.

Ms McKenna said: "Monsanto cannot be allowed to fool the public merely because it can afford expensive marketing, while those opposed to GMOs have a much harder time getting publicity to warn consumers of the dangers."

A spokesman for Monsanto said it would not respond to what was a draft report.

Genetic Concern spokesman Mr Quentin Gargan expressed alarm about Monsanto's presentation of information but particularly in the light of recent indications of "flaws in data submitted by the company to UK regulatory authorities". The data were presented to the UK advisory committee on releases to the environment (ACRE).

Mr Gargan noted an ACRE meeting minute on a Monsanto application relating to a GM maize. It indicated the authority believed initial data did not support Monsanto's conclusions.