US expert calls for evaluation of genetic foods

IRELAND is in the fortunate position of being able to evaluate its stance on genetically modified food before "a flood" of the products hits its supermarket shelves, according to a US authority on biotechnology, Ms Beth Burrows.

Speaking in Dublin before a week long lecture tour at the invitation of the Genetic Concern environmental group, Ms Burrows said she was not in Ireland to "get at Monsanto", the US chemical company testing the growth of genetically modified (GM) sugar beet in Carlow, the first GM crop grown in this country.

The director of the Edmunds Institute, Washington, an independent non-profit organisation which supports biodiversity in the public interest, said she was keen to encourage people "to resist losing their ecological, economic and food choices".

Those involved in genetic engineering were using the hyperbole of a fast, powerful new industry. It claimed to be able to "make deserts bloom, clean the soil, clean the oceans and feed the world" provided it got enough money. Those who questioned this were considered "anti-scientific".

"I'm here as Ruth Burrows, citizen, to get people to watch-dog the new technology. Companies are trying to sell us what they think we want. We have a duty to say we don't want it, if that is the case. What people need is information. They should be able to trust that information.

There was no proven health risk from GM foods, but there was no proven safety and no independent health studies, particularly on human consumption. While the industry said "There's no research to say that it's not safe", it was really saying there was no research to indicate either way.

Ms Burrows said she had yet to hear a satisfactory explanation from Monsanto on why earlier this year it had to withdraw 60,000 bags of genetically engineered canola (rape) seed in Canada when, it is believed, a new gene emerged in the seed.

In the US, she said, there was a revolving door between industry, corporate business and government, the closeness of which made her question environmental and human health assessment, particularly relating to new technologies.

A campaign in the US to have GM food labelled as such had been lost, but "negative labelling" had emerged, a guarantee of the absence of ingredients such as "This milk does not contain bovine growth hormone".

For Ireland, Ms Burrows said, it is not simply a case of "just one sugar beet". A great deal of imported food products such as soyabean, corn oil and cotton was going to contain GM components "that may affect your body". Her advice to shoppers was to ask if food items had genetically engineered components.

Ms Burrows is due to speak in Carlow, Dublin, Dundalk, Clare, Cork, Galway and Sligo.