Thanks to Vivianne Lerner for forwarding the ENS report below. BSE deja vue?

"The scientific case put forward for this GM maize is not adequate. If the GM maize was approved for commercial growing in the UK then people would be justified in turning their back on consuming milk derived from it. As a scientist I wouldn't drink milk from cows fed GM maize with the present state of knowledge." Professor Bob Orskov, director of the International Feed Resource Unit in Aberdeen, Scotland at UK MAFF hearings in London concerning proposals to allow Aventis's GM forage maize, Chardon LL onto the National Seed List.

Professor Orskov holds the Order of the British Empire and is an expert on nutrition in the group of animals known as ruminants which includes cows. Orskov has published four books and is the author or co-author of more than 500 scientific
publications.

Given the nature of this scientific warning it is vital that the NFU's British Farm Standard (currently being promoted across the country, but which does not prohibit GM derived production) should prohibit the use of GM forage maize in UK animal feed rations in the event that the UK goverment is reckless enough to approve this maize for commercial use. Otherwise British farming runs the risk of heading for another BSE type financial disaster.

Why gamble with the future of British agriculture like this? This latest warning from an eminent scientist arises in a week when the United States Department of Agriculture confirmed that the total cost of the recall of Aventis's GM forage maize 'Starlink' in the US (which got into the human food chain by mistake without approval) will exceed $100 million. (For more on the economic disaster caused by Aventis's GM maize in the US see: http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=186  and http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=14880997&ID  )

Aventis is the same incompetent biotechnology company responsible for the US fodder maize debacle as the one which is now trying to introduce GM fodder maize into the UK - the one which has refused to call witnesses to defend its GM maize at the MAFF hearings now taking place in London. It is also the same incompetent company that recently genetically engineered resistance to 'Roundup' by mistake into its own GM sugar beet which had been developed to have resistance to another chemical. 

As the BSE epidemic now starts to explode in France why is the UK government encouraging British farmers to follow in the footsteps of the US with GM technology (a process which like BSE and CJD revolves around breaching natural biological boundaries between species. Like many GM crops Chardon LL maize contains genetic material from a virus related to Hepatitis B - for more on this see: www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/camv.htm  ) when it is proving to be a financial catastrophe for them? Could it be that New Labour cares more for big business than it does for the well-being of the British countryside and its rural communities? 
"If you look at the simple principle of genetic modification it spells ecological disaster. There are no ways of quantifying the risks......The solution is simply to ban the use of genetic modification in food."Dr Harash Narang, microbiologist and senior research associate at the University of Leeds, who originally caused a scientific and political storm by claiming a link between mad cow disease and CJD in humans long before the UK government was prepared to admit it.

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX 
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com  
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex 
=================================================================================

Environment News Service (ENS) 2000. 

http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2000/2000L-10-19-10.html 
Transgenic Animal Feed Could Affect Dairy Products

LONDON, United Kingdom, October 19, 2000 (ENS) - The genetically modified
maize under scrutiny at a government public hearing in the UK has not been
thoroughly tested and should not be sold commercially, according to two
scientists called as expert witnesses, Wednesday. Called maize in much of
the world, in North America the grain is known as corn.

Cattle are at the center of intense debate in the UK over the use of GM
maize, or corn, as animal fodder. 

Professor Bob Orskov, director of the International Feed Resource Unit in
Aberdeen, Scotland, told the hearing he would not drink milk from cows fed
the genetically modified (GM) fodder maize, known as Chardon LL.
The biotechnology company Aventis applied to the government to have Chardon
LL included on the National Seed List, which would allow it to be grown and
sold commercially as cattle feed. Environmental group Friends of the Earth
challenged the application, forcing a public hearing on the issue.

Genetic modification involves altering an organism's genetic code or DNA in
a way that does not occur naturally by mating or natural recombination.
Selected individual genes can be transferred from one organism to another,
sometimes between non-related species.

Chardon LL, for instance, has been genetically engineered to be resistant to
Aventis' own herbicide.

Genetic modification technology is routinely used in thousands of research
laboratories worldwide and has resulted in many new products and processes
such as industrial enzymes and medicines such as insulin and vaccines.

But the use of genetic modification in agriculture and the food industry is
currently the focus of intense public and political debate. Proponents argue
that GM technology could produce cheaper, more nutritious food that requires
less weedkiller and pesticide. It could also grow food in colder or drier
climates.

Consumers, environmentalists and some scientists worry about risks to human
health and the environment. They fear that GM crops could cause toxic or
allergenic effects to humans. They are also concerned about large scale
elimination of indigenous agricultural and natural species.

In tests, Aventis fed to rats and chickens a protein from oilseed rape,
which the firm says is found in Chardon LL.
In the case of Chardon LL, Orskov is one such skeptic. He has been awarded
the Order of the British Empire and is an expert on nutrition in the group
of animals known as ruminants which includes cows. Orskov has published four
books and is the author or co-author of more than 500 scientific
publications.

"The scientific case put forward for this GM maize is not adequate," said
Orskov, yesterday. "If the GM maize was approved for commercial growing in
the UK then people would be justified in turning their back on consuming
milk derived from it. As a scientist I wouldn't drink milk from cows fed GM
maize with the present state of knowledge."

Orskov's criticism was shared by Dr. Vyvyan Howard, head of the Foetal and
Infant Toxico-Pathology Group at the University of Liverpool. "My
interpretation is that this GM maize has not been tested thoroughly," said
Dr. Howard.

Howard and Orskov's main criticism of safety data presented by Aventis is
that the firm has not tested Chardon LL on cattle, even though it is
intended for their use. Instead, rats and chickens were fed a protein from
oilseed rape - the same protein found in Chardon LL, according to Aventis.

Orskov was quick to point out that chickens and rats have one stomach,
whereas ruminants such as cows have four.

"The scientific case put forward for this GM maize is not adequate," said
Orskov. "Chemical analyses of the kind reported cannot identity potential
problems. We need to carry out proper, long term tests both on the effect of
the maize silage for the microbes in the stomach of the ruminants which
digest the feed and on the host animals. This has not been done."

Orskov warned Aventis and the government that the UK public could turn their
backs on milk and switch to other foods. "This would have a disastrous
effect on our dairy industry," he said. "Aventis needs to pay attention to
this."

"If the GM maize was approved for commercial growing in the UK then people
would be justified in turning their backs on consuming milk derived from it.
And even if it could be scientifically proven to be harmless, there may
still be a problem of consumer perception. The existing hurry seems to be
supply pushed rather than demand led."

Howard dismissed claims by Aventis that some of the safety tests are not
needed because the GM maize is not "materially different" from conventional
varieties. After analyzing Aventis' safety data, Howard concluded that there
were statistically significant differences in the composition of fat,
protein and fibre between the GM maize silage and the non-GM counterparts.

Statistically significant differences in fat and carbohydrate values of the
GM and non-GM grain samples were also discovered.
"They [Aventis] have taken a protein from another plant and fed it to rats.
I do not feel this can be used as a basis for making judgments about the
safety of this GM maize with respect to cattle," said Howard.

"What will happen if the maize is fed to cows as part of their diet? This is
the question that needs to answered. The experiments carried out by Aventis
are just a surrogate for well designed feeding trials, which would be both
relevant and informative."

Food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Adrian Bebb said the public should
be concerned about the scientists' criticisms. "Despite assurances from both
government and industry, the reality is that the safety of these GM crops
has not been properly tested," said Bebb.

"If it wasn't so serious it would be laughable. It is clear that the
government has not learnt anything from the BSE fiasco. Surely this GM maize
cannot now be added to the national seed list and be sold to farmers."

Scientists believe that the UK's bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
epidemic was caused by feeding cattle on meat and bone meal supplements that
had inadvertently become contaminated with the disease agent. This occurred
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and established the infection in cattle.
It was then magnified by the practice of feeding rendered material from
slaughtered cattle back to other cattle.

Otherwise known as Mad Cow disease, BSE is a progressive, fatal disease of
the nervous system of cattle. When it occurs in humans it is known as
Creutzfelt-Jakob disease. UK scientists suggest that a new form of
Creutzfelt-Jakob disease may be caused by human exposure to BSE.

Concern over food contamination has been great enough to topple governments,
as Belgium's governing coalition found to its cost in 1999. Contaminated
animal feed was blamed for causing dangerously high levels of the cancer
causing chemical dioxin in Belgian chicken, beef, pork, eggs, milk and
byproducts.

Worse, the Belgian government was said to have known about the contamination
but withheld the information from the public and the European Union.
In polls leading up to the June 1999 election, as many as one in every three
Belgians said they planned to switch their voting intentions as a result of
the food scandal.

Today in the Belgian capital Brussels, the European Commission proposed to
exclude condemned animal material from the feed chain as part of the White
Paper on Food Safety.

The regulation would prohibit the recycling of fallen stock and condemned
animal material in animal feed. The only animal material allowed to be used
for the production of animal feed would then be material derived from
animals declared fit for human consumption following veterinary inspection.

The commission, the executive arm of the 15 member European Union, said the
proposal was a major step towards preventing feed borne food crises such as
BSE and dioxin contamination.

"The fundamental objective of this proposal is to revamp veterinary
legislation on animal by products so that it lives up to the highest
standard of human and animal health protection," said David Byrne,
Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.

"Any contamination of animal feed, whether with BSE, dioxins or some other
contaminants, ultimately is a threat to the safety of the food that ends up
on the consumer's table. In the White Paper on Food Safety we recognized
that food safety means safety at every link of the production chain, from
the farm to the fork."


© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000. All Rights Reserved.

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