Infant Nutrition Council Misleading Parents With Attack

Infant Nutrition Council Misleading Parents With Attack (GE-Free NZ Press Release)

GE-Free NZ rejects the attack by the Infant Nutrition Council (INC) as a deliberate effort to mislead consumers about the serious questions raised regarding maintaining the integrity of the food supply for infants.(1)

The INC should be supporting GE-Free NZ in its warning that the supply chain for infant formula is being allowed to be contaminated to the point where companies are no longer committed to stopping it.

The food companies that the INC represents (2) claim that they feel it is no longer 'practical' to prevent GE ingredients contaminating baby formula. GE-Free NZ believe this is totally unacceptable to parents. It raises serious public concern in its implications for the integrity of the food chain.

GE-Free NZ also believe the INC claim is misleading because companies are ignoring practical ways to allow parents continued access to GM-free infant formula.The acceptance of GE-contaminated ingredients by manufacturers is about trying to avoid the costs of segregation and the costs of replacing commodities with organic ingredients.

The INC should recognize that it is unethical for Nestle and Heinz to decide such costs are too high for their business. In doing so they are denying parents access to GM-free infant formula.

The INC are not serving the public interest by denying that regulation is inadequate, or that there are proven health risks from GE organisms. The concerns include intergenerational animal feeding trials showing officially-approved GE-foods may be unsafe (3). These should not be in the infant food chain.

Parents are urged to contact manufacturers to demand they preserve the supply of GM-free infant formula. It is unacceptable for companies to use excuses to deny parents this basic right, and for the INC to shoot the messenger rather than answer the serious questions raised.

ENDS