Is the right kind of testing on GM soy being done?
From the
Natural Law Party, UK, Wessex Branch
Please see
the ABC News article below.
If this
kind of thing is cropping up with research on normal soya which
requires no special testing for release onto the market, how come the
allegedly thorough testing with GM varieties has not shown any similar
adverse effects on animal and human health? This raises the question:
"Is the right kind of testing on GM soy being done, or are the testing
methods used not suited for picking up health effects?"
The adverse
effects from normal soy should be showing up in GM soy as well if GM
soy is really "substantially equivalent" to normal soy as claimed by
food safety regulators around the world. Because the GM testing appears
not be successfully identifying these known problems, this situation
would appear to be further evidence that GM soya has only been subject
to superficial testing. If so what additional effects created by the
genetic modification have also gone undetected?
This
situation is especially significant because outstanding questions
concerning the safety of normal soy appear to be arising even from
within the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) itself. According to
the ABC News report below, soy safety questions from recent research
have arisen in relation to a number of health problems including breast
cancer in women, brain function in men, and developmental abnormalities
in children. According to the FDA scientists concerned: "There exists a
significant body of animal data that demonstrates goitrogenic and even
carcinogenic effects of soy products." And much more....(see their
letter to their own employer, the FDA, posted at the end of the first
ABC article which includes a full exposition and a long list of
published scientific papers). No wonder no Government wants to do
proper toxicity testing on GM soy. It could upset the whole soy
multi-billion dollar apple cart, both GM and non-GM.
For more
information on the lack of safety testing on GM soy see: "Where is the
safety testing of GM soya?"
http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/soyarefs.html
In the
light of this evidence is it a true scientific statement to say: "There
are no adverse health effects from GM soya"...? Certainly these
scientists from the FDA have not been willing to make such a statement
in respect of normal soya - in fact they have clearly said something
very contrary. It seems apparent that much of the detailed testing
which has now been done on normal soy (with negative results) has not
been done on GM soy, and that therefore the GM testing is not worth the
paper it is written on. To make matters worse it is now legal in the US
to label any kind of soy (GM or otherwise) as beneficial for reducing
heart disease risk (see ABC story below), but illegal to label it as
genetically modified. God Bless America - land of the "fee". The new
labelling arrangements follow a petition submitted to the FDA by the
American Soybean Association (ASA), whose corporate partners include
the following biotechnology/agro-chemical companies - American
Cyanamid, Bayer, Dow, Du Pont, Monsanto, Novartis and Zeneca (
http://www.oilseeds.org/partners.htm ).
According
to ASA President Mike Yost: "With this one change we couldn't have
asked for a more favorable decision by FDA, one that will benefit U.S.
and world consumers as well as U.S. soybean producers." (ASA News
Release November 16, 1998 following the initial FDA approval.) By
contrast, in submitting its comments to the FDA on the new health-claim
labelling arrangements for all soy the American Dietetic Association
(ADA) warned: "ADA assumes that both FDA and PTI have looked
extensively at the literature regarding potential safety concerns such
as allergenic reactions and possible toxicological effects of soy.
While we recognize that there is limited research in this area, we urge
FDA to consider any safety and toxicological issues prior to finalizing
this rule." http://www.eatright.org/gov/lg012599.html.
In the
light of the warnings made by its own scientific experts here are six
questions that it would now be interesting for attorneys and barristers
to ask the FDA and other government regulators in courts of law around
the world:
1) "What is
your understanding of the term 'the precautionary principle'?"
2) "Are
there any harmful health effects from non-genetically modified soy
postulated or demonstrated as a result of experiments published in the
scientific literature?"
3) "Have
all such experiments on the health effects of non-genetically modified
soy also been carried out in relation to genetically modified soy?"
4) "Is
genetically modified soy 'substantially equivalent' to non-genetically
modified soy?"
5) "If you
consider there to be equivalence, does that mean that any scientific
findings on the health effects of non-genetically modified soy would
also be applicable to genetically modified soy?"
6) "On the
basis of your answers to the previous questions, and any other
scientific evidence that you are aware of, are you able to confirm that
there are no harmful health effects from genetically modified soy?"
NATURAL LAW
PARTY, WESSEX, U.K.:
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020_000609_soy_feature.html
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