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

To: JGoren who wrote (1837)	3/28/1999 2:47:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Genetic food may duck law Date: 27/03/99 By DEBORAH SMITH Hundreds of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients are due to become illegal for sale by mid-May because they have not received safety approval from the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA). But rather than strip the supermarket shelves of these foods, the authority has asked ministers to consider allowing their continued sale while safety checks are under way. The foods include baby cereals, margarine, potato chips and breads. ANZFA's managing director, Mr Ian Lindenmayer, said producers of genetically engineered foods had been slow to apply for safety approval in Australia, despite nine months' notice of the May 13 deadline. But the option of removing genetically engineered foods from the shelves would disadvantage small businesses and consumers. "Every supermarket and corner store would need to take off product lines that have been on shelves for years," he said. Worldwide, more than 50 commodities such as soybeans, maize, corn, cottonseed oil and canola have been genetically engineered for characteristics such as resistance to herbicides or insects, and approved for sale. They may have been added to imported foods or ingredients used to manufacture foods in Australia. To date ANZFA has received applications covering only seven of these genetically modified commodities. It has recommended safety approval for two foods, Roundup Ready soybeans and Ingard cottonseed oil. Assessments should be completed soon for four more foods produced by Monsanto: Roundup Ready cotton, canola and corn, and BT corn. Mr Lindenmayer said the proposed exemption from the deadline would only be available if safety applications had been lodged by May 13, and the foods had been approved as safe by an overseas regulatory authority. ANZFA was not in favour of extending the deadline for applications, a third option being considered by the 10 State, Territory and Federal health ministers who form the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council. The director of the Gene-Ethics Network, Mr Bob Phelps, said the rules should not be changed to accommodate the tardiness of multinational companies. The proposed extension of the approval deadline would be "a large uncontrolled experiment on the Australian food-buying public", he said. The scientific and technical director of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, Dr Geoffrey Annison, said it would be appropriate for foods judged as safe overseas to remain on sale here while being assessed. Lack of ANZFA safety approval was a technical breach of the law, he said. But the foods would not be on the shelf already if they were not safe to eat. smh.com.au