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Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) released the results of its review this week, stating that the review had been undertaken by “international expert” Dr William Yan. The review, commissioned amid criticisms that FSANZ acts as a rubber stamp to industry, is further proof that the food regulator’s methods are not independent or transparent.
The reviewer is an employee of Health Canada, the regulator that famously came under fire for not publicising a report raising grave concerns about Monsanto’s GE bovine growth hormone in milk. When injected into cows, it causes higher levels of the naturally present hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which has been linked to cancer. Most recently, questions were raised this week, about Health Canada allowing the authorisation of SmartStax, a multi-herbicide tolerant and multi-insecticide-producing GE corn variety, without requiring any safety tests.
Whistleblower and former Health Canada senior scientific advisor, Dr Shiv Chopra, visited Australia recently, warning that Australia must take a stand against GE foods. He says it is “interesting” that FSANZ should choose a Health Canada employee to support their actions in Australia. “Regarding food toxicology, FSANZ and Health Canada are chips off the same block,” Dr Chopra says. He says work coming out of Health Canada committees he worked on was “ignored or manipulated [by Health Canada] to favour the corporate interests”.
Greenpeace GE campaigner Louise Sales says, “A genuinely independent review of the ways in which FSANZ assesses the safety of GE foods is urgently needed. This pointless back slapping exercise does nothing to help protect the health of Australian consumers.”
Late last year Ms Sales authored a report, Eating in the Dark, which detailed problems with FSANZ’s GE foods safety assessments. The Greenpeace report called for an urgent review of the safety assessment regime for GE food and the comprehensive labelling of all GE food, and was endorsed by leading scientists.
FSANZ is one of only a few regulators in the world to have approved every single application it has received for GE food products. Recently, there have been many alarms raised internationally about GE foods that FSANZ has approved. In Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South Africa, more stringent food labelling laws are being passed, assessment processes are being reviewed and in some cases, foods are being banned.
In the Foreword to Eating in the Dark, Molecular biologist Professor Jack A. Heinemann explains, “FSANZ is a creation of flawed legislation that mixes the goals of trade and public health.” The director of the Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety in New Zealand has criticized FSANZ’s lack of a scientific rigour: “Too often when the facts don’t support the claim of safety, these facts are either dismissed or presumed unimportant,” he says.
FSANZ has also been criticised for its lax labeling regulations – currently most foods with GE ingredients do not have to be labeled for GE content. A Ministerial food labeling review is expected to start next month and will conclude in July 2010.
Independent safety testing on the health impacts of food derived from GE crops is remarkably limited. Leading health bodies like the British Medical Association and the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) have raised concerns about the safety of GE foods and called for comprehensive testing and labelling.
The reviewer is an employee of Health Canada, the regulator that famously came under fire for not publicising a report raising grave concerns about Monsanto’s GE bovine growth hormone in milk. When injected into cows, it causes higher levels of the naturally present hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which has been linked to cancer. Most recently, questions were raised this week, about Health Canada allowing the authorisation of SmartStax, a multi-herbicide tolerant and multi-insecticide-producing GE corn variety, without requiring any safety tests.
Whistleblower and former Health Canada senior scientific advisor, Dr Shiv Chopra, visited Australia recently, warning that Australia must take a stand against GE foods. He says it is “interesting” that FSANZ should choose a Health Canada employee to support their actions in Australia. “Regarding food toxicology, FSANZ and Health Canada are chips off the same block,” Dr Chopra says. He says work coming out of Health Canada committees he worked on was “ignored or manipulated [by Health Canada] to favour the corporate interests”.
Greenpeace GE campaigner Louise Sales says, “A genuinely independent review of the ways in which FSANZ assesses the safety of GE foods is urgently needed. This pointless back slapping exercise does nothing to help protect the health of Australian consumers.”
Late last year Ms Sales authored a report, Eating in the Dark, which detailed problems with FSANZ’s GE foods safety assessments. The Greenpeace report called for an urgent review of the safety assessment regime for GE food and the comprehensive labelling of all GE food, and was endorsed by leading scientists.
FSANZ is one of only a few regulators in the world to have approved every single application it has received for GE food products. Recently, there have been many alarms raised internationally about GE foods that FSANZ has approved. In Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South Africa, more stringent food labelling laws are being passed, assessment processes are being reviewed and in some cases, foods are being banned.
In the Foreword to Eating in the Dark, Molecular biologist Professor Jack A. Heinemann explains, “FSANZ is a creation of flawed legislation that mixes the goals of trade and public health.” The director of the Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety in New Zealand has criticized FSANZ’s lack of a scientific rigour: “Too often when the facts don’t support the claim of safety, these facts are either dismissed or presumed unimportant,” he says.
FSANZ has also been criticised for its lax labeling regulations – currently most foods with GE ingredients do not have to be labeled for GE content. A Ministerial food labeling review is expected to start next month and will conclude in July 2010.
Independent safety testing on the health impacts of food derived from GE crops is remarkably limited. Leading health bodies like the British Medical Association and the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) have raised concerns about the safety of GE foods and called for comprehensive testing and labelling.
For further information or comment
Vivienne Reiner, Greenpeace Media Advisor: (02) 9263 0380; 0432 352 132; vivienne.reiner@greenpeace.org Louise Sales, Greenpeace GE campaigner: (08) 9433 4890; 0438 679 263 Dr Shiv Chopra, Canadian microbiologist: +1 613-692-6104 (available early mornings until midday AEST)
