US Government's lack of safety standards for GM crops revealed by
consumer
representative in Brussels

Press Release from Consumers International

Brussels - 10 January 2003
Documentation showing that the US
government allows the biotechnology industry to police itself on
safety
testing of GM crops will be presented today at a meeting hosted by the
German Marshall Fund in Brussels on GM crops, by Consumers
International
representative, Dr. Michael Hansen.

Dr. Hansen will provide letters written by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to Monsanto accepting at face value Monsanto's
own
conclusions regarding the safety of their GM corn variety (see
attached
media briefing for excerpts of the letters)

Dr. Hansen also states that, contrary to the impression given by US
ambassadors in Europe and elsewhere, the US government does not have
rigorous standards for safety assessments on GM crops, does not
thoroughly review company data, and has never formally approved any of
the GM corn varieties grown in the US.

These allegations come at a critical time as the US government is
making
every effort to persuade both European and African governments that GM
crops are thoroughly reviewed and that anyone raising questions about
safety is ignorant and acting immorally.

"Consumers worldwide and especially in the US are outraged that the US
government is threatening the EU with WTO challenges for refusing to
accept GM corn until comprehensive labelling and traceability systems
are in place, when they themselves do not formally review and approve
the safety of the GM corn varieties grown in the US" said Dr. Hansen.

Dr. Hansen further criticised the FDA for failing to follow through on
regulatory improvements proposed in 2001. "Back in 1992, the FDA
claimed that GM technology is similar to traditional breeding and
would
therefore be regulated in the same way (see attached media briefing
for
excerpts from FDA's policy document). Then, in 2001, the FDA admitted
that there is a difference between traditional breeding and GM
technology and proposed that there should be mandatory notification of
GM food marketing and a mandatory FDA data review. However, they have
still not issued any such regulation"

Consumers Union (CU) in the US and Consumers International (CI)
worldwide are calling on the US government to stop pressurising the EU
and Africa to accept its GM corn and instead get its own house in
order
by conducting mandatory safety reviews of data provided by the
biotechnology industry and prohibiting the marketing of GM crops
unless
they have been approved by the FDA. CU and CI point out that
Africa's
food needs could be met with non-GMO foods. They note that 70 % of
the
corn grown in the US is not genetically modified.

Notes to Editors
Michael Hansen, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Associate focussing
on biotechnology for the Consumers Policy Institute, a division of
Consumers Union, the largest consumer organization in the United
States.
He represents Consumers International at UN bodies that establish
international standards on genetically modified food, including the
Codex Committee on Food Labelling and the Codex Ad Hoc Task Force on
Foods Derived from Modern Biotechnology. For more information, see
www.consumersunion.org.

Consumers International is a federation of consumer
organisations dedicated to the protection and promotion of consumers'
rights worldwide through empowering national consumer groups and
campaigning at the international level. It currently represents over
250
organisations in 115 countries. For more information, see:
www.consumersinternational.org

Consumers International position on the issue of GM food aid to
Africa can be seen in the attached letter to James Morris, Director of
the World Food Programme. Click here to see full letter:
http://www.consumersinternational.org/documents_asp/ViewADocument.asp?
regid=
135&ID=503&categoryid=463&langID=1
For further information on the African consumer movement's position on
GM crops, please click here:
http://www.consumersinternational.org/News/display.asp?
id=175&regionid=135&t
ag=X&type=news&langid=1