March 19, 2007

Environment group says Monsanto corn allegedly toxic
 

Environment activist group Greenpeace International has made waves in Europe after announcing that a strain of genetically engineered corn produced by biotech giant Monsanto causes liver and kidney problems in rats.

Greenpeace France commissioned a review of the safety data for Monsanto's MON863, a strain of corn engineered to resist rootworm, and concluded that rats that were fed the corn for 90 days showed adverse liver and kidney reactions.

The study, which was published last week in the independent journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology and Toxicology, is the first time that a genetically modified food authorized for human consumption had shown "signs of toxicity," according to a statement by Arnaud Apoteker, a spokesperson for Greenpeace France.

The news followed a California court injunction against the sale of genetically engineered alfalfa seed developed by Monsanto and Forage Genetics. The court said the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not conduct proper environmental impact research.

Genetically modified foods are already abundant in market shelves of American grocery stores. In fact, the USDA estimates that more than 70 percent of the processed foods sold at US grocery stores contain ingredients or oils from biotech crops.

Genetically modified products in the US are not required to be labelled as such. Europe has traditionally resisted GMO (genetically modified organism) crops altogether, citing potential dangers that the modified crops can cause to adjacent crops.

Monsanto's MON863 has been approved for use in the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, and other countries, according to Monsanto representatives. The company last year reported US$1.8 billion in sales of genetically modified corn products.

But when Monsanto applied for regulatory approval to sell MON863 in Germany in 2002, the European Commission called for a detailed review of the health and safety assessment of the corn. The commission ruled in 2006 that it was fit for human consumption and "safe as grain and derived products from traditional corn lines," according to EU documents.

Doreen Stabinsky, a genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace International, said that Monsanto had presented an "optimistic interpretation of the data" for MON863 for use in the US and abroad.

Monsanto denied that its genetically modified corn or other crops are unsafe for animal and human consumption.