-Caveat Lector-
>From the Guardian (UK)
> GM food 'threatens the planet'
>
> Andy McSmith and Denis Staunton, Cologne and Antony Barnett
> Sunday June 20, 1999
>
> The world's most powerful leaders yesterday labelled genetically
> modified food, alongside Aids and the millennium bug, as one of the
> greatest threats facing the planet.
>
> In a significant blow to Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton, both
> men were bounced into agreeing a new global inquiry into the safety of
> GM foods at the G8 summit in Cologne. Blair and the US President have
> been two of the strongest supporters of the GM industry.
>
> Environmentalists welcomed the development as 'significant', but they
> warned that the public would not be 'duped by international committees
> interested in rubber-stamping products of biotechnology firms'.
>
> Tony Juniper, the director of Friends of the Earth, said: 'It shows
> just how far the thinking in the US and British Governments is from
> those in other leading nations. If this G8 initiative is to have any
> credibility, there must now be a five-year freeze on all GM food used
> commercially.'
>
> Monsanto, the US firm behind GM crops, also welcomed the move, saying
> it hoped it would speed up international approval of their products.
> Washington and Brussels are at loggerheads over GM technology, with
> the US threatening an all-out trade war if Europe tries to ban GM
> food.
>
> Yesterday the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder - supporting an
> initiative of French President Jacques Chirac - used his position as
> head of the host nation to put GM foods on the agenda of the G8
> summit. The matter was included under 'global threats' along with Aids
> and the millennium bug. This Franco-German alliance symbolises the
> growing opposition on the Continent to the new technology.
>
> Two technical committees of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
> and Development will now begin to collate information from around the
> world to ensure that every country has access to the best research on
> the effects of genetic modification. Afterwards British officials
> defended the decision, saying that Britain also believes that 'food
> standards and food safety are vital to communities'.
>
> Ministers argue they will not give permission for commercial release
> of such crops until the trial results show these are safe. But
> environmental campaigners still believe that potential risks to human
> health have not been properly evaluated and are concerned that GM
> seeds can cross-pollinate into the countryside, destroying wild
> habitats.
>
> Opposition to genetically modified food is also beginning to grow in
> the US, where some 70 million acres of modified soya beans, tomatos,
> wheat and cotton are now grown across the country.
>
> This unexpected setback at the G8 summit took some of the shine off a
> personal success for Tony Blair, who persuaded the other G8 leaders to
> agree measures to improve teacher training worldwide.
>
> It was the first time that G8 had included education as a topic at any
> of their summits.
>
> � Denis Staunton is Berlin Correspondent of The Irish Times
<<What is it with the Brits and their cows? I say, jolly old chaps
(an article of cowboy workwear): cows are benign beings, bringing us
one of the basic foods (milk), one of the food pyramid foods (meat),
leather, and a nice pattern for Gateway 2000 boxes, not to mention
nourishment for our gardens. They've evolved just nicely ... they've
developed their own efficiency. Strongly suggest leaving well-enough
alone!!! What's next? "GM"-ing the clock so we can get more hours
in the day? A<>E<>R >>
> Cancer scare over cattle drugs
>
> Dairy products at risk after Ministers let Monsanto carry out secret
> trials to raise milk yields
>
> Antony Barnett, Public Affairs Editor
> Sunday June 20, 1999
>
> Thousands of British consumers were exposed to an experimental
> cancer-causing chemical during the late 1980s after the Tory
> Government gave permission for its use.
>
> The Observer has learned that the chemical - made by Monsanto, the US
> biotech firm behind genetically modified crops - was given to cattle
> on 38 farms in a clandestine experiment conducted over a three-year
> period. The farms are thought to have been in southern England.
>
> At the time the Government admitted that some trials were taking place
> but disclosed only scant details. Now it is known that hundreds of
> animals were injected with Monsanto's genetically modified hormone
> known as BST, designed to increase milk yields by 10-15 per cent. The
> Government allowed this milk - and dairy products derived from it - to
> be sold to the public without any warning.
>
> Earlier this year, the European Union's scientific committee concluded
> that the hormone increased the risk of breast and prostate cancer. It
> is also feared that BST milk could lead to cancer of the colon.
>
> Labour Ministers are refusing to give full details about the secret
> trials. Last week's revelations of the number of farms involved and
> that the milk was consumed by humans have shocked experts.
>
> But The Observer has established that officials at the Ministry of
> Agriculture do have a list of the farms used for the experiments and
> that each farm was given permission to use BST for two years.
>
> In 1985 Monsanto and another US company, Eli Lilley, were given
> licenses by the Government to test BST. The hormone was banned in the
> EU in 1990 after causing udder infections, mastitis and reproductive
> problems. At the time Britain was the only country to vote against the
> moratorium.
>
> Earlier this year Canada also banned the genetically engineered
> chemical.
>
> Monsanto is now threatening a trade war unless the EU lifts the ban.
> Like genetically modified food, BST milk is widely used in the US and
> Monsanto claims it is safe.
>
> But Donald Broom, a professor of animal welfare at Cambridge
> University who helped carry out the study for the EU, has no doubts of
> the hazards posed by BST. He told The Observer that Monsanto's
> research was flawed.
>
> Monsanto claimed that BST milk did not have increased level of IGF, a
> hormone linked to some cancers. EU scientists have now demonstrated
> that BST contains up to five times more IGF than normal milk. The
> biotech firm also wrongly claimed that the hormone would be broken
> down before it reached the gut.
>
> Broom said: 'They told us there was no risk to health. They were
> wrong. Many people would have drunk milk or eaten dairy products which
> increased their risk of developing cancer.'
>
> Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who raised the issue in the
> House of Commons, said: 'First the Tories gave us BSE. Now it appears
> they gave us BST � These secret trials show Monsanto conniving with
> the Government of the day to protect the interests of big business.'
>
> A Monsanto spokesman denied there was any risk to human health from
> BST milk. He said BST had been subject to one of the most intensive
> monitoring programmes ever conducted by the US Food and Drug
> Administration.
>
> A Department of Health spokeswoman denied the Government has used
> British consumers as guinea pigs. She said: 'Independent expert
> committees in Britain and Europe concluded that the applications to
> test BST met all the statutory requirements of safety, quality and
> efficacy.'
A<>E<>R
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