>AGRICULTURE-INDIA/ VIGIL AGAINST GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SOYABEANS
>
>August 13, 1998
>
>NEW DELHI - Inter Press Service via NewsEdge Corporation : A campaign
>against the landing of one million tons of soyabeans from the United
>States, suspected to be genetically engineered, got off today with a
>farmer's rally in the capital.
>
>The suspicions arise from the fact that soyabean consignments from the U.S
>have been found to be mixed with crops from the biotechnology giant
>Monsanto which has more than five million hectares under genetically
>engineered (G.E.) soya.
>
>"What the Europeans have rejected due to environmental and health hazards
>is now being dumped on Indians who traditionally do not consume soya," said
>leading activist Vandana Shiva.
>
>................
>
>
>The scientist in UK who brought the information to the public that the
>genetically engineered potatoes injured rats has been fired. The institute
>he was working for has not said that his results were incorrect, but has
>said they require further analysis. It seems that the controversy he
>stirred up resulted in him losing his job.
>
>----------
>
>BBC Wednesday, August 12, 1998 Published at 15:42 GMT 16:42 UK
>
> Genetics scientist suspended
>
> Dr Arpad Pusztai will now retire
> BBC Science Correspondent James Wilkinson reports
>
> The scientist at the centre of controversial claims over the risks of
>eating genetically-modified (GM) food has been suspended.
>
> Dr Arpad Pusztai claimed research on rats fed with genetically modified
>potatoes had suffered immune damage.
>
> He had gone on the ITV World In Action programme to raise questions
>about the safety of GM food in the human diet on the basis of the study.
>
> But his employers, the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, said the
>scientist had got into a "muddle" and had provided misleading information.
>
>...............
>August 13 1998 BRITAIN
>
>Scientist's potato alert was false, laboratory admits
>
>BY NIGEL HAWKES, SCIENCE EDITOR
>
>The Times (UK)
>
>
>WARNINGS about genetically modified food issued by a scientist earlier this
>week were improper and misleading, a top British nutrition laboratory
>admitted yesterday.
>
>The scientist involved, Dr Arpad Pusztai, 68, has been suspended by the
>Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen and will retire. He had claimed that
>experiments with genetically modified potatoes had shown immune-system
>damage in rats that ate them for more than 100 days.
>
>The Rowett said yesterday that this was not true. The data to which Dr
>
>Pusztai had referred, first in an interview with World in Action and then
>with The Times and other media, did not involve genetically modified
>potatoes. Rather, it involved feeding trials in which a protein from the
>jack bean, a lectin, was added to a potato-based feed. Since this lectin is
>known to harm the immune system, the damage was not surprising. ....
>
>Last night Dr Pusztai said ... : "I do not want to speak right now because
>I have effectively been sacked."
>
>Dr Pusztai is thought to have arrived in Britain from his native Hungary in
>1956. He is a leading world expert in lectins and, according to institute
>sources, has an "enormous international reputation". He has worked at the
>institute for 20 years.
>
>.............
>
>The facts on this story may take some time before they are clear---Richard
>
>
>
>
>...................
>
>Thanks to "Quentin Gargan," <quentingargan at tinet.ie> for the following two
>articles:
>
>Danes debate safety of Round Up herbicide
>ENDS Daily - 10/08/98
>-------------------------
>A debate is under way in Denmark about the health risks of one of the most
>widely used herbicides in Europe - Round Up - sold by US firm Monsanto,
>which contains the active ingredient glyphosate.
>
>The debate was prompted by reports in the Danish press of research at
>Italy's National Institute for Cancer Research, which found that an
>"unknown compound" in the formulation of Round Up - not glyphosate itself
>-caused gene damage in mice, indicating that it could be a carcinogen.
>Around 86% of Round Up is made of so-called "inert" chemicals that support
>the action of glyphosate.
>
>Newspapers have also been asking why Denmark has less strict rules on the
>use of glyphosate than neighbouring Sweden, where the national chemicals
>inspectorate has ruled that it should not be used within 10-14 days of
>crops being harvested because otherwise it left unacceptably high residues
>in food that were a "danger for human consumption."
>
>Mounting public concern has led to a number of leading bread manufacturers
>in Denmark refusing to buy flour made from grain treated with Round Up
>close to harvesting. ... Tomorrow, environment minister Svend Auken is
>
>due to answer questions put to him by the Danish parliament's environment
>and planning committee, including why Denmark has not followed Sweden's
>rules on the use of
>glyphosate.
>
>Contacts: Danish environment ministry
>(http://www.mem.dk/ukindex.htm), tel: +45 33 927 600;
>Danish parliament, tel: +45 33 37 55 00; Monsanto
>(http://www.monsanto.com), tel: +32 2 776 4111;
>Danish Farmers' Union, tel: +45 33 12 75 61.
>
>==================
>PRESS RELEASE
>
>Research Highlights Risk of using Viral Promoter Genes in New Foods
>
>Fragments of artificial genes inserted into foods were detected in the
>brain cells of baby mice in research conducted Dr. Walter Doefler of the
>Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne. (Ref: Journal of molecular
>genetics and genetics Vol 242: 495-504, 1994 ) Conventional wisdom had
>previously assumed that genetic material was destroyed in the process of
>digestion. The research emerged on the UTV World in Action programme last
>Monday.
>
>"This has huge implications for the use of genetically engineered foods"
>said Quentin Gargan of Genetic Concern. "Industry would have us believe
>that genetic engineering is a simple technology in which a single naturally
>occurring gene is taken from one plant and inserted into another, but
>nothing could be further from the truth".
>
>We may have a gene which gives us blue eyes, and this gene exists in every
>cell in our body - part of this gene is a promoter region which ensures
>that it is only switched on in cells in our eyes - otherwise, every part
>of our body would be blue from our hair to our toenails.
>
>When artificial genes are inserted into a plant, they are accompanied by a
>promoter region from a virus. This promoter ensures that the gene is
>switched on at all times and in all parts of the plant. Viruses such as the
>cauliflower mosaic virus and a figwort virus have promoter regions which
>are highly active, and these are included in genes which were inserted into
>the sugar beet currently being tested in field trials by Monsanto around
>the country.
>
>"The idea that fragments of DNA from viral promoters could find their way
>into cells of new born babies is a frightening prospect", said Quentin
>Gargan of Genetic Concern "yet Monsanto admitted in the World in Action
>programme that they do not conduct long term testing of these genetically
>engineered foods". ....
>
>"Once again, we hear regulatory authorities assuring us that there is no
>scientific evidence that genetically modified foods are unsafe - this was
>exactly the situation with BSE, DDT, Thalidomide and many other calamities"
>said Mr Gargan "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and with
>something irreversible such as genetic engineering, we must learn from past
>mistakes and take a very cautious approach"
>
>ENDS
>
>
>_________________________________________________________
>Richard Wolfson, PhD
>Consumer Right to Know Campaign,
>for Mandatory Labelling and Long-term
>Testing of all Genetically Engineered Foods,
>500 Wilbrod Street
>Ottawa, ON Canada K1N 6N2
>tel. 613-565-8517 fax. 613-565-1596
>email: rwolfson at concentric.net
>
>Our website, http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/geindex.html
>contains more information on genetic engineering as well as
>previous genetic engineering news items
>Subscription fee to genetic engineering news is $35 for 12 months
>See website for details.
>__________________________________________________________
>__________________________________________________________
>
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