GM CROPS ENTER FOOD CHAIN BY BACK DOOR!!!

[Guest guest]

From Terry/MADSON: flounder@...> -- U.K. INDEPENDENT 1/24/99 --

Animal feed for cows, pigs and chickens containing genetically modified

crops is about to go on the market, raising fears in Whitehall of

another BSE-style health crisis.....Government officials, environmental

groups and scientists believe that genetically modified DNA from the

animal feed could pass through the food chain to humans, with UNKNOWN

effects.....They also say that consumers will be denied the opportunity

to avoid GM food, as there are NO laws saying that meat or milk

containing the product must be labelled as such.....Earlier this month,

Monsanto, the biotechnology giant, applied for government approval to

sell two NEW GM ingredients to animal feed producers in Britain. Its

applications, one for GM cotton and the other for GM corn for specified

use in animal fodder, were considered by government

advisers.....Insiders have told the Independent on Sunday that officials

at the Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) animal feed unit, which dealt with

the BSE crisis, were " very worried indeed " when the applications came

before the Maff approval committee.....The called for more " toxicology

tests " on Monsanto's GM cotton and have PRIVATELY expressed FEARS about

unknown implications of using it as feed????? " Maff officials wanted

full toxicology tests on the cotton, " said a souce from the meeting.

" They were very concerned and agitated. One of them was VIRTUALLY

SHAKING. They are not happy and they have been saying so PRIVATELY " ?????

Sources close to the committee have confirmed that Monsanto is about to

be given the green light to sell GM maize to animal feed producers in

Britain.....Some scientists, however, say that by the time the meat and

milk is consumed by humans, the DNA will have broken down and only

infinitesimal quantities will remain..... " The TRUTH is that NO ONE has

any idea whether the GM organisms fed to the animals pose dangers to

human health, " said Holden, director of the soil association.

" But surely the very least the consumer should have is the RIGHT TO

CHOOSE WHETHER THEY CONSUME THESE PRODUCTS OR NOT " !!!!! The crisis comes

in the week the Government is to announce the setting up of a Food

Standards Agency, which will preside over food safety, including that of

GM food {WAKE-UP AMERICA, MADSON}. Supermarkets, pubs, and shops will

all be expected to pay a flat rate of f90 each in a food " poll tax "

under plans which will go out for consultation this week.....Nick Brown,

the Agriculture Minister, recently said at an organic food conference

that people should be able to CHOOSE whether to eat GM

food......Already, two varieties of Monsanto's geneticall modified corn

and soya have been approved for general consumption by humans and

animals in Europe. It is not known whether the are yet being used in

animal feed.....Nervous farmers, who had to destroy generations of

cattle because of the BSE crisis, have begun asking feed companies

whether the processed food contains GM ingrediants.....a spokesman for

the National Farmers Union said: " Farmers are asking what is in the

feed; it's a big problem. There is certainly concern among farmers who

don't want to use GM crops in their feed " .....At the same time, the

government is funding new research into genetically modifying the grass

that COWS and SHEEP graze on {probably to eliminate the prions, from the

manure that settled into the ground, that the grass grew out of, from

the last MADMADE MISTAKE... MADSON) . The scientists in charge admit

that there are public concerns about feeding GM products to cattle and

say that vital part of their work is assessing potential risks...... " We

are doing some work on genetically engineering grasses. We are looking

at changing their digestibility, " said a spokesman for the Institute for

Grassland and Environmental Research. " We can't theoretically see

problems with feeding genetically manipulated crops to humans, but we

have to realise that the public is worried............///////////////

[NO, THE PUBLIC IS SCARED, and rightfully so. MADSON]