British chefs call for ban on 'freakish' GM foods

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

FYI etc. - awareness media re BSE on both sides of the world at the moment!!

Cheers etc., Lynette

INDEPENDENT (London) JAN 27 1999

British chefs call for ban on 'freakish' GM foods

More than 100 chefs and food writers launched a campaign to oppose

" freakish " genetically modified food yesterday. Carluccio, Antony

Worrall , Fay Maschler and Annie Bell, food writer for The

Independent, were among those who pledged to secure a ban on the release

of all genetically modified (GM) organisms into the food chain.

The writers, who are backed by the environmental group Greenpeace, said

they would not lend their names to any products including GM ingredients

and would endorse restaurants that do not use GM food.

In a joint statement, they said: " As food professionals we object to the

introduction of [GM] foods into the food chain. This is imposing a genetic

experiment on the public, which could have unpredictable and irreversible

adverse consequences. "

The launch of the campaign came after a report by a House of Lords

committee last week, which concluded that the benefits of GM foods far

outweighed the risks. The report said that the technology could bring

benefits and help to feed the world.

But the author Joanna Blythman, who is spearheading the anti-GM campaign,

said yesterday that it was not a precise science and the long-term effects

were not known.

" People are fed up with technological tinkering and they want food they

can trust, " she said.

" You would have thought people would have learnt the dangers after the BSE

crisis, but if this goes wrong it will make the fall-out from BSE look

like child's play. " She warned that GM food could endanger health and

imperil the environment because the genes could escape from the crops

through the release of seeds and create " superweeds " , which would lead to

ever-increasing use of herbicides.

" Once they are released into the environment there is no way to get them

back, " she said.

Melchett, the executive director of Greenpeace, said the food

writers were reflecting public anger about the way food was produced.

In a recent Mori poll, 61 per cent of respondents said they would not be

happy to eat genetically modified food.

" The public must be told about the GM ingredients that are already

appearing in processed foods. People are eating GM food without knowing

it, " he said. A spokesman for Monsanto, the leading genetic food company,

said GM foods were rigorously tested and strictly regulated.

" Monsanto has always wanted a debate about this but we are concerned to

hear criticism that is without foundation. There is a strict regulatory

process and the products are tested for allergies and other effects. "

A spokesman for Asda said the supermarket chain had asked suppliers of its

own-label brands to stop using GM ingredients, or, if that was not

possible, clearly to label the products that contain them.

Hundreds of foods containing GM ingredients are already on supermarket

shelves.

They include bread, biscuits, pasta and packet soups. The main GM

ingredients are some types of soya, maize and tomatoes.

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[Guest guest]

I wonder what selective breeding for a specific quality (such as corn for

oil content) is if it's not genetic modification?

When a farmer does it, it's okay. When a scientist does it, it's Pandora's

Box.

I'd no sooner trust a scientist to tell me which chefs can't be trusted than

a chef to tell me which scientists can't be.

Just my $.02.

> British chefs call for ban on 'freakish' GM foods

> INDEPENDENT (London) JAN 27 1999

> British chefs call for ban on 'freakish' GM foods

>

> More than 100 chefs and food writers launched a campaign to oppose

> " freakish " genetically modified food yesterday. Carluccio, Antony

> Worrall , Fay Maschler and Annie Bell, food writer for The

> Independent, were among those who pledged to secure a ban on the release

> of all genetically modified (GM) organisms into the food chain.