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---- >>Fearful of a public backlash that might drive the biotech industry into >>oblivion, Monsanto is reaching out to its critics. >> >>Last week, Jeremy Rifkin, the biotech critic, flew to Monsanto's world >>headquarters in St. Louis to address something called the World Business >>Council for Sustainable Development. >> >>According to a report in the New York Times, the multinational giants >>wanted Rifkin to help them "paint a portrait of the biotechnology >>landscape of the year 2030 and how it evolved." >> >>Also last week, Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, >>met with Monsanto's directors in Washington, D.C. to persuade them to drop >>the terminator gene. It used to be that farmers would plant seed, the crop >>would come up and be harvested, except for a handful of plants, which the >>farmer would let go to seed, and save that seed for next year's planting. >>With the terminator gene, the crop comes up, but there are no seeds. So >>the farmer has to go to Monsanto to buy more seed. >> >>Conway told Dow Jones Newswires he is worried that the backlash over the >>terminator gene, which is years from reaching the commercial stage, is >>damaging public support for crop biotechnology in general, which might >>slow research that could benefit poor farmers overseas. "We have a lot of >>people to feed and biotechnology is one of the answers," said Conway. >> >>Whatever you feel about citizens of conscience meeting with corporations >>to seek to persuade them to do the right thing, (and we are not of one >>mind on this), it is clear that the biotech industry is in a panic over >>its beloved high-tech future. >> >>The masses in Europe are in full revolt over the issue (with the Prince of >>Wales leading the charge against the corporatist Labor Party in the UK). >>And a lawsuit that the mainstream press has largely ignored -- a lawsuit >>that threatens the well-being of Monsanto, Norvartis and other biotech >>firms -- is making its way through the courts. >> >>In May 1998, a number of public interest groups sued the Food and Drug >>Administration (FDA), alleging that the agency violated federal law by >>allowing biotech foods onto the market without first adequately testing >>the foods for safety and then without adequately labelling those foods so >>that consumers know whether, for example, they are eating fish genes >>spliced into their tomato sauce. >> >>The federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act incorporates the precautionary >>principle -- a new food additive is presumed unsafe until established safe >>through standard scientific procedures. But the FDA ruled in 1992 that >>genetically engineered foods are not new food additives. >> >>In the FDA's critical 1992 statement of policy on biotech foods -- the >>policy that opened the floodgates that allowed biotech foods to pour into >>the marketplace -- the FDA claims that it was "not aware of any >>information showing that foods derived by these new [biotech] methods >>differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way." >> >>In fact, internal reports and memos obtained during the course of >>discovery for the lawsuit reveal the FDA's own scientists warned that >>foods produced through recombinant DNA technology entail different risks >>than do their conventionally produced counterparts. >> >>But these scientists were consistently disregarded by the bureaucrats who >>approved the agency's current policy of treating bioengineered foods the >>same as natural foods that have been changed by conventional breeding >>practices. >> >>"There is a profound difference between the types of unexpected effects >>from traditional breeding and genetic engineering which is just glanced >>over in this document," warned Dr. Louis Priybl of the FDA's Microbiology >>Group in criticizing a 1992 FDA draft policy paper on the issue. >> >>Dr. Linda Kayl, an FDA compliance officer, complained that the FDA was >>"trying to fit a square peg into a round hole" by concluding that "there >>is no difference between foods modified by genetic engineering and foods >>modified by traditional breeding practices." >> >>"The processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are >>different, and according to the technical experts in the agency, they lead >>to different risks," Kayl said. >> >>Kayl and other FDA scientists recommended that genetically engineered >>foods undergo special testing. To no avail. >> >>So, Americans are now eating genetically engineered foods. And for the >>most part, they don't know it. >> >>The main genetically engineered crops in the United States are soy, corn, >>canola, cotton, potatoes, papayas, and raddichio. (You might say -- hey, >>I don't eat cotton. But cottonseed oil is in many vegetable oil blends, >>which are in many processed foods.) >> >>It has been estimated that corn and soy alone are in 70 to 80 percent of >>U.S. processed foods. And since 40 percent of this season's soybean crop >>and 30 percent of the corn crop have been genetically engineered, you are >>probably eating genetically engineered foods, whether you like it, or know >>it, or not. >> >>Steven Druker, the executive director of the Iowa City-based Alliance for >>Bio-Integrity, is the driving force behind the lawsuit against the FDA. >> >>The lawsuit has received little media publicity since being filed last >>year, but Druker predicts that when the American people learn the details >>of the FDA's deception, we'll see an earthquake of public reaction against >>biotech foods. >> >>"The FDA has been intentionally unleashing a host of potentially harmful >>foods onto American dinner tables in blatant violation of U.S. law," >>Druker told us. "And they have been covering up the fact that they have >>been acting so wrongly. I don't like that. And most people who learn the >>facts do not like it." >> >>Bon appetit. >> >>Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime >>Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based >>Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The >>Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy, Common Courage Press, >>1999, http://www.corporatepredators.org. >> >>(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman >>Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber >>and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or >>repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on >>a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us >>(russell@essential.org or rob@essential.org). >> >>Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve >>corp-focus@essential.org. To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail >>message to listproc@essential.org with the following all in one line: >> >>subscribe corp-focus <your name> (no period). >> >>Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at >><http://lists.essential.org/corp-focus>. >> >>Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to >>comment on the columns, send a message to russell@essential.org or >>rob@essential.org. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>*********************************************************** >> >>Saskatchewan Eco Network >>#203-115 2nd Ave. North >>Saskatoon, SK >>S7K 2B1 >> >>phone: (306) 652-1275 >>fax: (306) 665-2128 >>email: sen@link.ca >> >>The Saskatchewan Eco Network is an >>affiliate of the Canadian Environmental Network >> >> >FALLS BROOK CENTRE >125 South Knowlesville Road >Knowlesville, New Brunswick >Canada E7L 1B1 >Tel: 506 375 8143 >Fax: 506 375 4221 >email: fbcja@web.net >http://www.web.net/~fbcja > -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- You received this because you are subscribed to "sust-mar", the Sustainable Maritimes mailing list. To unsubscribe, send email to <majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca> with "unsubscribe sust-mar" (without quotes) as the body of your message. 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