Experts' concern and alarm at US secrecy over unapproved seed in food supply

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GMW: Experts' concern and alarm at US secrecy over unapproved

seed in food supply

 

 

" GM WATCH " <info

 

 

 

 

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:30:31 GMT

 

 

 

Experts' concern and alarm at US secrecy over unapproved seed in food

supply

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPTS:

 

The federal government kept it secret for three months...

 

the government's secrecy about the mistake raises serious concerns,

according to independent experts.

 

....Kendall Lamkey, the head of Iowa State University's plant-breeding

center [says]... the way the federal government kept the mistake secret

is alarming and may undermine public confidence in genetically modified

crops... [Lamkey] served on a National Academy of Sciences panel in

2002 on the environmental impact of genetically modified crops.

 

[Here's another interesting bit]

EPA scientists reviewed seven packets of information from Syngenta from

Jan. 7 to March 10, and " as more data came in, the confidence of our

scientific determination [of no risk] increased " [ie they weren't that

confident at the point they decided to stay stumm. clearly they decided

to avoid a starlink style recall and sit on their hands while they

conducted a post-release 'safety evaluation' in the hope of finding it

safe!]

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U.S. quiet about sale of altered corn

By Knight Ridder Newspapers and The Associated Press

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2002216446_corn23.html

 

WASHINGTON - The federal government kept it secret for three months

that genetically modified corn seed was sold accidentally to some U.S.

farms for four years and may have gotten into the U.S. food supply.

 

The accidental use of unapproved seed became public when the scientific

journal Nature published a story about it yesterday.

 

The U.S. food supply and plant and animal stocks weren't harmed and

remain safe to eat, according to officials of the seed company and the

government.

 

But the government's secrecy about the mistake raises serious concerns,

according to independent experts.

 

Syngenta, a Swiss-based company, distributed the unapproved genetically

altered corn seed, Bt 10, which was engineered to resist bugs. It mixed

the Bt 10 with a similar and approved corn seed called Bt 11, company

officials said yesterday. The Bt 10 was modified with a gene from the

pesticidelike bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.

 

Hundreds of tons of the genetically engineered seeds and resulting corn

crop were shipped in the United States and overseas between 2001 and

2004.

 

Spokesmen for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said there was no need to notify

the public

because the government had determined that Bt 10 was safe. The USDA is

investigating the incident, and the seed company faces up to $500,000 in

fines, Agriculture Department spokesman Jim Rogers said.

 

" Most of the corn is used for industrial and animal use, " company

spokeswoman Sarah Hull said. " It may have gotten into the food supply,

but

regardless, the proteins are deemed safe, and there's no food concern. "

 

Remaining seeds have been destroyed or isolated, Hull said.

 

Syngenta's U.S. headquarters is in Greensboro, N.C. It runs its seed

operation out of Golden Valley, Minn.

 

" I personally don't see it would be a major issue, " said Kendall

Lamkey, the head of Iowa State University's plant-breeding center. But

the

way the federal government kept the mistake secret is alarming and may

undermine public confidence in genetically modified crops, said Lamkey,

who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel in 2002 on the

environmental impact of genetically modified crops.

 

In mid-December, Syngenta told the EPA, the Agriculture Department and

the Food and Drug Administration about the mistake, Hull said.

 

EPA scientists reviewed seven packets of information from Syngenta from

Jan. 7 to March 10, and " as more data came in, the confidence of our

scientific determination [of no risk] increased, " EPA spokeswoman Cynthia

Bergman said in an e-mail. " Had there been a human health concern, we

would have alerted the public immediately. "

 

Syngenta did not say where in the United States the corn was grown,

other than to say it sprouted on a total of 37,000 acres in four states,

representing less than 1 percent of all U.S. corn.

 

 

 

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