Manufacturers Say GE Food Safe, Questions Raised
As Manufacturers Continue To Say GE Food Is Safe, Questions Are Raised
Report by Steven Druker, US public interest
attorney who appeared before
the Royal Commission in
January, as an expert witness for GE Free New Zealand
in
Food and Environment, comments on flawed Royal
Commission report in respect
of genetically modified
foods.
"The report issued in July 2001 is to a substantial
degree inaccurate and
imbalanced, giving undue weight to
questionable claims that cast genetic
engineering in a
favourable light while unjustifiably discounting and
even
ignoring sound evidence that implies problems." says
Steven Druker. "The
report's tendency to skew the
presentation in favour of bioengineering even
at the
expense of factual accuracy is readily apparent in its
discussion of
genetically engineered (GE) foods and
consumer safety."
"Considering the extent and the severity
of these errors, it is reasonable
to regard their report
as substantially unreliable - and to reject
the
commission's conclusions and adopt a more
precautionary approach based on a
proper understanding of
the facts." he suggests.
"It systematically downplays and
under-reports evidence suggesting hazards,
even to the
extent of excluding much of it, while it regularly relies
on
weak, unsubstantiated and sometimes false assertions
from biotech proponents
to counter and often override
well-grounded concerns expressed by experts.
Further, its
procedures are so loose and careless that it not
only
incorporates many false statements by others but
also contains many
blatantly false assertions of its
own." says Steven.
"As the extensive information about the
health hazards of GE foods that the
RC report has
suppressed becomes better publicised, it is to be
expected
that consumers around the world will resist them
even more intensely.
Accordingly, if New Zealand
agriculture invests heavily in GE crops, it
will
ultimately be the worse for it. More important,
given the unique risks
entailed by these foods and the
serious deficiencies in the current
regulatory process,
it is clear they pose an unacceptable health hazard
and
that none should have yet come to
market."
"Consequently the commission owe the nation
an explanation and also an
apology for having consumed so
much public money and the time of so many
people in such
an errant and irresponsible manner.' Druker concludes.
"The
people of New Zealand have solid grounds on which to
reject the report and
its conclusions and to demand that
their elected representatives do the
same - and that they
responsibly safeguard the nation's agriculture and
the
health of its citizens by promptly imposing a ban on
the planting and
marketing of all genetically engineered
foods."
Ends