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FSA - WILL IT FAIL THE PUBLIC OVER GM FOOD? Action urged over GM food testing

21 Jun 2000

Friends of the Earth is today calling on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to distance itself from the Government's position on genetic modification (GM) and to review the safety of all GM foods and current safety assessments.

Papers submitted for Thursday's FSA meeting in Glasgow urge its Board to support the Government's GM position, despite the admission that it is funding work to investigate “strengthening the current safety evaluation procedures”[1].

Friends of the Earth is calling on the FSA to:

• withdraw all approvals for current GM foods and animal feeds pending a review of safety tests;
• ban the use of antibiotic resistance marker genes;
• consult widely about the adequacy of current controls particularly the dependence of “substantial equivalence” [2]
• require biotechnology companies to release all food safety data.

Friends of the Earth's Real Food Campaigner, Pete Riley said:
“We were promised a new beginning in food safety when the Food Standards Agency was formed but on GM foods they have so far wobbled in the direction of the Government and the biotech industry. If the Agency wants credibility on this issue it must ensure that it's not simply the old Ministry of Agriculture with a new logo. We need firm action on GM foods to guarantee public safety at all costs. The current status quo should not be an option.”

1. Paper FSA 00/02/06 to the Food Standards Agency Board 22 June 2000.
2. Substantial equivalence embodies the idea that if the chemical analysis for predictable chemicals in GM food shows it to be broadly the same as the conventional equivalent then it is deemed to be safe.

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