USDA has not done GMO risk assessments
Anybody who thinks GMOs have been properly tested should read this. Only
now are the US authorities
getting round to developing proper risk assessments on these products years
after they have been released into the environment.
It is especially interesting that the USDA acknowledges here that with
"large-scale deployment of genetically engineered
organisms, especially commercial uses of such organisms" there are
"considerations that may not be revealed through
small-scale evaluations and tests" and which may be related to "cumulative
effect concerns".
So much for the 'science' of GMOs. It clearly hasn't been done.
NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
=======================================================
USDA ANNOUNCES RISK ASSESSMENT RESEARCH GRANTS
The Agricultural Research Service and the Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have announced the
Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program for fiscal
year 2000. Proposals are requested from eligible institutions for
competitive consideration of Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grant
awards. CSREES also is soliciting comments regarding this request for
proposals from any interested party. These comments will be
considered in the development of the next request for proposals for this
program.
The Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program seeks
to assist Federal regulatory agencies in making science-based
decisions about the safety of introducing into the environment
genetically modified organisms, including plants, microorganisms, fungi,
bacteria, viruses, arthropods, fish, birds, mammals, and other animals.
The Program accomplishes this by providing scientific information
derived from the risk assessment research that it funds. Research
proposals submitted to this competitive grants program must address
risk assessment, not risk management, and will be evaluated by a peer
panel of scientists.
Areas of Research to be Supported
1. Research relevant to assessing the effects of the introduction into
the environment of genetically engineered organisms. Gene flow
experiments on crops with a high potential for gene introgression into
wild or weedy relatives, e.g., those with high rates of outcrossing and
with overlapping habitats are of particular interest.
2. Research on large-scale deployment of genetically engineered
organisms, especially commercial uses of such organisms, with special
reference to considerations that may not be revealed through
small-scale evaluations and tests and may address cumulative effect
concerns.
3. Research to assess the effects of transgenes in wild relatives of crop
species.
4. Research to assess the effects of genetically engineered plants with
"stacked" resistance genes or genes that confer broad resistance to
insects or diseases, which may give recipient plants a greater selective
advantage and lead to less predictable ecological consequences.
5. Research to develop statistical methodology and quantitative
measures of risks associated with field testing of genetically modified
organisms.
All proposals must be received at USDA on or before April 10, 2000.
For supplementary information, please consult the full text of this
Solicitation available at the Program Web site at:
http://www.reeusda.gov/crgam/biotechrisk/biotech.htm
For additional information on the program, please contact:
Deborah Sheely
Tel: 202-401-1924
Email: mailto: dsheely@reeusda.gov
Robert M Faust
Tel: 301-504-6918
Email: mailto:rmf@ars.usda.gov