FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Survey of scientists and government ministers exposes complete lack of independent safety testing of GM foods Independent safety tests of Genetically Modified foods have never been carried out 7 April 2001 The UK government Department of the Environment Transport and Regions (DETR) has recently announced [1] a new series of Farm-Scale Evaluations (FSEs) of GM crops. The announcement includes the phrase : "All of the seeds in the trials have been through years of rigorous safety tests." Unfortunately this statement is simply untrue. A survey carried out by gmfoodnews.com over the last year has shown that no GM seeds or crops have ever been through rigorous safety tests. gmfoodnews.com put one of the following questions to a selection of politicians and scientists worldwide : "Could you please provide references to scientific papers which show that the Genetically Modified corn and soy products currently sold in the US and Europe are safe for feeding to animals and humans." or : "Can you point me to independent safety tests which prove the safety of the GM soya and maize products currently being sold in the UK?" or : "Can you please provide references to published scientific data from independent safety tests which proves that GM crops are safe for humans, animals and the environment?" A sample list, of some of the scientists and politicians contacted, can be found in the Appendix of this news release. Not one of the scientists or politicians contacted has been able to provide any evidence of independent safety tests ever having been carried out. Marcus Williamson of gmfoodnews.com comments : "It is appalling that these crops are being used in human and animal food, without comprehensive independent safety testing. These crops should be withdrawn immediately, and any further FSEs stopped, pending an inquiry into why this safety testing has never been done." Notes for Editors 1. Details of the proposed new GM trial sites can be found on the DETR website at : http://www.press.detr.gov.uk/0104/0209.htm 2. For information about the harm done by GM crops and foods, see : http://www.gmfoodnews.com/gmwrong.html Contact Marcus Williamson Genetically Modified Food, UK and World News Website : http://www.gmfoodnews.com/ E-mail : marcus@myrealbox.com Appendix A sample of the scientists, UK government and EU ministers contacted includes (in alphabetical order) : Professor Klaus Amman - University of Berne, Switzerland. kamman@sgi.unibe.ch Professor Doctor H. Backhaus - Institut für Pflanzenvirologie, Mikrobiologie und biologische Sicherheit, Germany. H.Backhaus@bba.de Sir Walter Bodmer - Principal, Hertford College, Oxford and Head of the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory, Imperial Cancer Research Fund. walter.bodmer@hertford.ox.ac.uk David Bowe - Labour Member of the European Parliament, responsible for new EU GM directive. dbowe@europarl.eu.int David Byrne - EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection. David.Byrne@cec.eu.int Jay Byrne - Public Affairs, Monsanto, USA. jay.byrne@stl.Monsanto.com Professor Antonio Rodrigues Cordeiro - Departamento de Genetica, Instituto de Biologia, Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. arcord@acd.ufrj.br Lisa Dry - Director of Communications, Biotechnology Industry Organization, USA. ldry@bio.org Carl Feldbaum - President, Biotechnology Industry Organization, USA. cfeldbaum@bio.org Dr Franz Fischler - EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries kabinett-fischler@cec.eu.int Jose Forment - Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Valencia, Spain. jforment@ibmcp.upv.es Barry Greig - Food Standards Agency, UK. Barry.Greig@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk Sir John Krebs - Chairman, Food Standards Agency, UK. John.Krebs@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk Dr D. Malcolm Livingstone - Plant Molecular Biologist, CSIRO, Australia. Malcolm.Livingstone@tag.csiro.au Dr Bob MacGregor - Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture & Forestry, Canada. rdmacgregor@gov.pe.ca Duncan Macintosh, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Phillipines. d.macintosh@cgiar.org Dr Alan McHughen - Professor and senior research scientist, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. mchughen@duke.usask.ca Dr Roger Morton - CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia. roger.morton@pi.csiro.au Professor Vivian Moses - Emeritus Professor of Microbiology, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, UK. V.Moses@qmw.ac.uk Dr Gregory Pence - Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. pence@uab.edu Professor Chris Pollock - Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, BBSRC, UK. Chris.pollock@bbsrc.ac.uk Dr Channapatna S. Prakash - Professor, Plant Molecular Genetics Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA. prakash@tusk.edu Professor Philip Stott - Philip Stott Professor of Biogeography, University of London, UK. stott2@compuserve.com - Dr Richard Stuckey - Past Executive Vice President, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, USA. rstuckey@cast-science.org Professor Tony Trewavas - Edinburgh University, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, UK. Trewavas@ed.ac.uk Dr David Tribe - Senior Lecturer, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Australia. d.tribe@microbiology.unimelb.edu.au Margot Wallstrom - EU Commissioner for the Environment. margot.wallstrom@cec.eu.int Francis Wevers - Executive Director, Life Sciences New Zealand, New Zealand. fwevers@lifesciencenz.com ENDS