www.GMOAnswers.com

GMO companies launch website to fight anti-biotech movement

A group of biotech seed companies on Monday launched an online forum to combat mounting opposition to genetically modified foods among consumer groups and activists.

The website, www.GMOAnswers.com, is designed as a "central online resource" for information on genetically modified organisms and their use in agriculture and food production, the Biotechnology Industry Organization said.

The website is backed in part by Monsanto, DuPont , Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical, and other companies whose products include seeds that have been genetically altered in ways the companies say improve food production.

The website launch is part of a broad campaign by the biotech industry to try to beat back growing calls for GMO food labeling and for tighter regulation of the biotech seed industry in the United States. European opposition to GMOs is so strong that Monsanto this month said it would withdraw all pending requests to grow new types of GMO crops.

Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, the agricultural unit of DuPont, said anti-GMO forces have been using the Internet very effectively to get their message out, and industry wants to use the same strategy to combat what he said were notions "not always based in fact."

"This... is an effort to increase the dialogue. That is all we want," said Schickler. "Dialogue is good. Over time I think we'll come to a common understanding."

Critics predicted the industry effort to change consumer skepticism would fail, saying there is ample scientific evidence that GMO foods can contribute to health problems in animals and humans, and hurt the environment.

"This latest effort will likely do little to stop the consumer backlash against genetically engineered foods that has been brewing for years," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, a consumer organization.

The most popular gene-altered crops withstand dousings of weed-killing chemicals and produce their own insect-killing toxins. Biotech corn, canola, soybeans, and other crops are used in human food and animal feed around the world and biotech companies say they are heavily regulated and thoroughly tested.

But some scientific studies have cast doubt on the safety of these biotech crops.

Last year, Monsanto and other industry members spent $40 million to defeat a ballot initiative in California to require labeling of GMO food. Similar initiatives are underway in several other U.S. states and at the federal level.

Grocery retailer Whole Foods said this year it would require suppliers to label any product made with genetically modified ingredients. And the Natural Products Association, which represents 1,900 food industry players, has called for a uniform standard for GMO labeling to apply nationwide.

Burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. recently became the first major U.S. restaurant chain do disclose GMO ingredients and is moving to remove such products from its supply chain. Reuters

Is GMO CORN making you sick? 

How one woman was told that the popular ingredient was the cause of her insomnia, headaches and chronic nausea

• Corn is in everything from take-away coffee cups to Vitamin E supplements
• Experts say that natural cross-pollination from genetically modified crops to organic crops means there is no such thing as GMO-free corn anymore

A woman who suffered from 'weird' symptoms like burning face rashes, pain in her joints, chronic fatigue, nausea, severe insomnia and a constant head cold, has opened up about her deteriorating health and how genetically modified corn may be to blame.

In an essay for Elle.com, Caitlin Shetterly, 37, explains how after nearly four years of frustrating doctor visits and no explanation in sight, the mother-of-one was diagnosed as having developed a reaction to genetically modified corn by allergist Paris Mansmann.

But the MD's directive to strip all corn from her diet was harder than the Portand, Maine resident and  author of Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home, could have ever imagined.

Mr Mansmann’s advice was to eliminate all corn, even organic corn, because 'it's almost impossible to find a corn source in the U.S. that doesn’t have the [genetically modified protein] in it,' he said.

Many experts agree that because of cross-pollination via winds, birds, and bees, from genetically modified crops to organic crops, there is no such thing as GMO-free corn anymore. 

A desperate Mrs Shetterly, whose tight, achy joints meant that her hands froze into claws while she slept and hurt to uncurl in the morning, expected Mr Mansmann's recommended diet to be a cinch.

'After all, how hard could it be to give up corn?' she wrote. 'The answer was: way harder than I imagined.'

Corn popped up everywhere: in tea bags, juice, and cheese culture; it lined her take-away coffee cups and even plastic bags full of frozen vegetables.

'Almost everything my family used, no matter how piously natural and organic, had corn in it. It came under the guise of dozens of names like “xanthan gum,” “natural flavors,” “free-flowing agents,” “vitamin E,” “ascorbic acid,” “citric acid,” and “cellulose,” to name a few,' she explained.

And because corn is fed to animals whose meat and eggs she ate, and whose milk she drank, Mrs Shetterly had to restrict her diet to only vegetables, grains other than corn, grass-fed beef and dairy, and wild fish. 

'We eschewed anything premade and began gathering foods from local sources we could trust. I stopped taking every medicine or supplement with corn in it (which was most of them). Wherever I went, I took my own stainless-steel coffee cup.''My husband and I threw ourselves into the corn-free diet with gusto: We began baking all our bread, we learned how to make our own flour tortillas and sweet treats like muffins and cakes.

Mr Mansmann estimated that it would take about four months of eliminating corn for the white blood cells called eosinophil - which were in overproduction thanks to the genetically modified corn's proteins, which were acting as allergens - to cycle out of Mrs Shetterly's body.

But blaming genetically modified foods for any kind of health problem is controversial.

Amal Assa’ad, MD, dismissed anxiety over the safety of genetically modified corn. 

'What’s wrong with chemicals?' she asked. 'A lot of chemicals have helped us—a lot of medications are chemicals.

'[Genetically modified organisms] produce better crops that have increased production, that are resistant to pesticides—crops that can feed the rest of the world.'

Starting in the Eighties, the biotechnology giant Monsanto began to genetically alter corn to withstand its herbicide Roundup, so that weeds but be eradicated but not crops. MAILONLINE

DuPONT BIOTECH: GMO CROPS WEB

Biotech firms seek to be more open on GMO crops

Acknowledging publically that they haven’t done a good job promoting their cause, biotechnology companies including DuPont have created a new website to answer questions about genetically modified crops.

The industry said the website, GMO Answers.con, was created to help consumers know more about the crops such as where they are grown and what the safety data says. The website says genetically modified organisms — or GMOs — are a major topic of discussion that fosters “a wide range of questions and emotions … ranging from excitement and optimism to skepticism and even fear. “

“We recognize we haven’t done the best job communicating about GMOs—what they are, how they are developed, food safety information—the science, data and processes,” said Cathleen Enright, a spokesperson for GMO Answers. “We want people to join us and ask their tough questions. Be skeptical. Evaluate the information and decide for yourself.”

Despite opposition in Europe and other parts of the world concerned over the impact biotech crops have on human health and the environment, they have become a major player in the agriculture community since they were first introduced commercially in the United States in 1996. Genetically modified crops are now grown in 30 countries by 17.3 million farmers on more than 420 million acres.

GMO Answers was created by the members of The Council for Biotechnology Information, which includes BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta. Chemical and agricultural giant DuPont owns DuPont Pioneer, its agricultural seed unit based in Johnston. Desmoineshregister

INDIA BARC GMO seeds

Every second idali in your plate is product of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre: R K Sinha

Every second idali in India is produced from urad dal (Black Gram) genetically modified by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BRC) said chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and secretary to government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, Dr R K Sinha here on Friday. 

Sinha further said fifty per cent of the urad dal in India is produced from genetically modified seeds of BARC. He said atomic energy and radiation in particular is making tremendous contribution in the field of agriculture and medicine. 

Sinha who was in the city to participate in the graduation function of the 13th batch of one year orientation course of BARC Training School at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) Indore said atomic energy has many social aspects as well and its uses can improve lives of people by increasing crop production and better health care. 

Elaborating further Sinha said through radiation and breeding they have produced seeds of 41 kinds of crops including pulses, rice, jute, sunflower and ground nuts. "We develop solutions for certain issues like seeds for drought prone areas, seeds that require less pesticide and so on," said Sinha. Similarly radiation is used in field of medicine for treatment of cancer. The use of radiation technology has helped in checking multiplication of and transfer of cancer tissue from parts of body to other. 

Coming back to power, Sinha said at present India produces only 10 per cent of energy required as compared to any developed nation. The consumption of power in developed country is around 6000 units per person per annum, in Germany per capita consumption of power is 7000 units per person per annum, while in India it is just 700 units per person per annum. 

Per capita consumption of power is directly proportional to human development index of the country. Standard per capita per consumption is around 5000 units/year and India has long way to go. But in our country fuel resources (for production of power) is less and quality of coal is quit bad, so we have make use of other resources like solar energy and atomic energy. 

"India has abundance of thorium and we have to make thorium based nuclear power plant for energy security and energy independence of the country and we are making progress on that path," said Sinha adding that India can not depend on uranium based nuclear power plant as country will have to always depend on foreign sources for fuel supply. 

At present nuclear energy contribute only 3 per cent of our total energy production, DAE is planning to increase it up to 25 per cent of total power production in coming years. To make this possible 19 nuclear power plants including two in Madhya Pradesh are proposed in 12th plan. Four nuclear power plants are in advance stage of construction and it is expected to be commissioned by 2014 out this one is fast breeder reactor. TIMESOFINDIA

INDIA GM CROP

No labelling laws yet

Hyderabad: The safety of Genetically Modified crops and Bt toxins is still in doubt and yet no labelling laws have been implemented so far in India, to allow the consumer to make an informed choice. As a result, a consumer cannot tell whether he/she is buying a GM or a non-GM product.

Moreover, though the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) has recommended that field trials be discontinued, experts say there is ample chance that we are already consuming GM food.
Cottonseed oil, which is extracted from the seed of Bt cotton, is widely consumed and used as a constituent in several blended edible oils. Food products imported from the United States like soya and maize are invariably GM modified. 

Dr P.M. Bhargava, founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said he never uses oils which have cottonseed oil as a constituent, and all food products imported from the United States “for the safety of my family.”

“We are definitely eating GM food, no doubt about it. Almost every food product from the US has some GM content. Unfortunately, we don’t even have a laboratory to test for GM contents. If we test all food products in the market for transgenic content, half of them will fail,” Dr Bhargava said.

P. Chandrasekhara Reddy, vice president (Sales and Marketing), GEF India, owners of Freedom Refined Sunflower oil, said that cottonseed oil is definitely used by some brands as a constituent in edible blended oils. “It is not directly edible but is used by some brands in blended edible oils, though not in a great proportion, but definitely as an important constituent,” Reddy said.

Rules for blended edible oils don’t allow constituent oils to be less that 20 per cent, which means consumption is pretty high. The representative of a major bioseed company this newspaper spoke to admitted that consumption of cottonseed oil is indirect consumption of transgenic food.

It is essential that laws mandating the labelling of any product with transgenic content should be in force, so consumers can choose whether or not to consume transgenic food. “We brought this to the government’s notice but no action has been taken by them,” Dr Bhargava said. Dr Narsimha Reddy of the Chetana Society also said that labelling laws should have come into force by now but haven’t.

Genetically modified crops are said to increase yield and guard against certain crop diseases, but the effect on human health has not been tested sufficiently. In its eagerness to increase agricultural production, the government may be compromising our health and has not even allowed us to make an informed choice.

Animal deaths due to Bt cotton neglected: TEC

The Supreme Court appointed Technical Expert Committee criticised the scientific community for its alleged reluctance to investigate death of animals fed Bt cotton leaves in AP.

In its report, TEC termed the closure of investigation on reported animal deaths as “sub-standard regulatory oversight and even negligence”.

The TEC also said that evidence attributing the animal deaths to Bt toxins didn’t elicit “a responsible and science-based response from the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee”.

In its report, the TEC gave four counts of proof against the investigation reports of the scientific agencies submitted by Dr Sagari Ramdas. The TEC cited a letter from the then incumbent director of Animal Husbandry, AP, Dr L. Gopal. The letter said the Bt cotton samples were sent to four different laboratories and the reports had proved the deaths were due to other reasons.

However, evidence showed that the reports of the laboratories, including the city-based Veterinary and Biological Research Institute and the AP Forensic Science Laboratory, were contradicting each other.

Dr Ramdas said evidence provided by the agencies refuting that the animal deaths were caused due to Bt toxins “would not stand any kind of international scientific scrutiny as they are based on incomplete testing protocols.” Deccan Chronicle