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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1565)	3/10/1999 8:27:00 PM
From: jopawa	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 2539

Dan, God knows how stupid all this is, grab a fu%$#*& bag of Doritos and look at the ingredients. These clowns are worried about MTC and genetic modification (they've never heard of Genetics?), but all the while they are slugging down every package food product imaginable. Hard to believe, they should all just jump in a time machine and go back to the hunter/gatherer stage. Time will prove us right as technology presses on and these Neandrathals are left grubbing for the scraps. John

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1565)	3/11/1999 12:07:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2539

The Australian: Push for rules on genetic farming By SID MARRIS 11mar99 A MULTINATIONAL agriculture company has backed plans by Agriculture Minister Mark Vaile to take over, from Health Minister Michael Wooldridge, the regulation of gene technology advances. As federal Cabinet debates who will police the growing area, Monsanto technical director Bill Blowes said yesterday the current body overseeing food standards, the Australia New Zealand Food Authority, had not become the "regulatory authority that it should be". Dr Blowes said there was a need for a transparent set of rules to provide guidelines for companies such as Monsanto, which was "invited to do business" in Australia. He said proposals being drafted within Mr Vaile's department would address the issue. "Now we have a minister who is committed to regulating this technology and that is good news for all of us," Dr Blowes said. "This change to regulation is happening right now and we need to make sure that the organisation that is put in place meets the need of all us as Australians." Australian Consumers Association manager of policy and public affairs Mara Bun said consumer and medical groups remained convinced health ministers should continue to monitor the use of genetically modified foods. Ms Bun said the agriculture companies were reacting to a decision by health ministers in December for even more stringent labelling requirements than originally proposed by the ANZFA. "It is totally logical for the food to be regulated by the health ministries," she said. "To base public policy on knee-jerk industry groans – and that is essentially what this is all about – is both bad policy for the public interest and horrific in terms of longer-term export consequences." A decision on the future of regulation of genetically modified foods is not expected from Cabinet until later this month. Victorian Health Minister Rob Knowles yesterday broke ranks with his State and federal colleagues. Mr Knowles played down the importance of companies registering foods containing genetically modified organisms, saying the failure to do so did not pose a health risk. The comments came at the start of a three-day conference on gene technology, where a "lay panel" will write a report based on contributions from experts. Opening the conference, Mr Vaile said Australia needed to embrace the technology to ensure it could compete with other countries using the techniques to increase yields and lower costs. "Sure we have to be careful but we cannot turn our back on opportunity, particularly the opportunity to provide food to hungry people, to provide them with the kind of food security that we take for granted," he said. "Any risks must and can be managed and controlled." theaustralian.com.au