Monsanto Admits Unexpected Gene Fragments in its GE Soybeans

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The following is from:

http://www.purefood.org/Monsanto/genefragments.cfm

 

Monsanto Admits Unexpected Gene Fragments in its GE Soybeans

Soya gene find fuels doubts on GM crops

GM food: special report

James Meikle

Wednesday May 31, 2000

The Guardian (UK)

 

Monsanto, the international company that pioneered the use of genetically

modified crops, has revealed that its most widely used GM product contains

unexpected gene fragments, raising fresh doubts that the technology is

properly understood.

 

Two extra gene fragments have been found in modified soya beans that have

been grown commercially in the US for four years and used as an important

ingredient in processed foods sold in Britain for a similar period.

 

The company and the British government, which approved the soya's use in

food and animal feed on behalf of the EU, yesterday insisted that the beans

were no more risky to human health than conventional types. However, the

revelation will cause further problems for ministers trying to prove they

can manage and monitor the introduction of the technology.

 

Monsanto alerted the Department of the Environment to the results of new

studies on its Roundup Ready soyabeans on May 19, two days after ministers

revealed that thousands of acres of oilseed rape had been grown unwittingly

from conventional seed contaminated by GM material. German research has

suggested that a gene used to modify rape seed could leap the species

barrier into the guts of bees.

 

Monsanto said the new studies used more advanced techniques to provide

" updated molecular characterisation " of its beans which contain an inserted

gene to ensure they are not destroyed by weedkiller. The tests found that

two " inactive " pieces of genetic material were inserted at the same time as

the whole gene. Dan Verakis, a spokesman for the company, said: " All this

means is we are able to see genes in soya more clearly now. It is like

putting a telescope in orbit allows astronomers to see stars better. "

 

He insisted that the fragments were in the product when it passed safety

assessments by US authorities in 1992 and in Britain in 1996.The company's

letter to the government says that nearly 100m acres of such beans have been

cultivated round the world since 1996 " without adverse impacts on the

environment or human health. They have also been widely consumed in Europe

in foods and animal feedstuffs without adverse effects. " No GM soya is grown

in Britain.

 

The Department of the Environment said its own preliminary study " suggests

that the risk from these beans when used in food or animal feed is no

different from conventional soya beans " . The in formation was considered by

one advisory committee, on releases of GM material into the environment,

last Thursday. The government has promised to publish its final verdict

which will be passed on to the European commission.

 

Andy Tait, GM campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: " This shows exactly what

we have been saying for years, that genetic modification is inherently

unpredictable and will have all sorts of knock-on effects once released into

the environment. " Soya is used in a wide range of foods. About half the US

harvest is now thought to be GM.

 

 

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