Government GM watchdog admits health monitoring shambles2 September 1999
A key Government Committee has admitted that any attempt to monitor the health effects of genetically modified (GM) food on the British public is likely to fail. The Government's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ANCFP) agreed to carry out an 18-month feasibility study into how consumption of GM food could be related to possible health effects. But it conceded that some health effects could be missed by such a broad study.
Supermarket Chief Executives may be subject to "Ministerial approaches" to seek their co-operation in providing sales data on a regional basis. Health data likely to be used includes cancer and mortality rates, birth related events and monitoring from health centres.
Pete Riley, Senior Campaigner on Biotechnology at Friends of the Earth, slammed the proposals, pointing out that: "The ACNFP does not seem to have noticed that nearly all major supermarkets and food manufacturers have decided not to stock GM food. What the public wants is GM-free food, not woolly proposals to monitor health effects after GM foods have already been eaten. Post-marketing monitoring is not a substitute for proper research before GM food is released into the human food chain. The Government seems content to use the UK population in an uncontrolled experiment. Supermarkets seem more in touch with public opinion than these so called safety watch dogs."
- Earlier this year, Friends of the Earth revealed Government plans to use data from supermarket loyalty cards to track patterns of GM food consumption and relate them to possible health effects. All the major supermarkets have told Friends of the Earth that they will not co-operate with the proposal.
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