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

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1844)	3/29/1999 11:16:00 AM
From: Professor Dotcomm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

"Herbs could risk fertility" Another good one, Dan .com

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1844)	3/29/1999 1:31:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

03/29 06:10 INTERVIEW-Spanish grain merchant backs gene crops By David Brough LISBON, March 29 (Reuters) - A leading Spanish grain merchant said on Monday he backed genetically modified (GM) crops because he was confident adequate food safety controls were in place. "When a GM product reaches the market, it has been properly approved. That should be sufficient," Pelayo Moreno Sanchez, president of the Spanish Association of Cereals and Oilseeds Merchants, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "If a multinational like Monsanto <MTC.N> launched a new GM product, I would sell it," he added, speaking from Badajoz in the maize- and sunflower-growing region of Extremadura in western Spain. Moreno Sanchez said Spanish farmers wanted to grow GM crops. They sought higher yields and lower costs, and GM plants used less herbicides and resisted pests. "Farmers want a product that gives them fewer problems to deal with," he said. Traders estimated that 20,000 hectares of approved strains of GM maize had been planted for commercial use across Spain in 1998 for harvesting in late 1998 or early this year. The EU permits imports of approved strains of GM crops like maize and soybeans but regulations governing growing of GM crops, whether experimental or commercial, within individual EU member states are still in flux. Spain is a net importer of cereals. Spanish importers have spurned U.S. maize in recent months because of concerns it could include unapproved GM varieties, grain industry officials said. Moreno Sanchez said he was not concerned about possible long-term health risks from GM foods. The exact risks -- if any -- posed by high-yield GM crops are not known, analysts say. Critics say they fear GM seeds could affect human health and hurt the environment via cross-pollination. Moreno Sanchez said he favoured labelling food as containing GM ingredients but added that few Spanish consumers were concerned about food safety issues. "I think labels should state whether foods are genetically modified, so the consumer can make an informed choice," he said. Few foodstuffs sold in Spain are labelled as containing GM ingredients.