Another GE soy approved for supermarket shelves
green-party
Fri Apr 19 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Another GE soy approved for supermarket shelves
Friday, 19 April 2013, 1:39 pm
Press Release: Green Party
19 April 2013
Another GE soy approved for supermarket shelves
Another genetically engineered (GE) soybean should not have been approved while we are still waiting for a response to a recent GE foods risks study, the Green Party said today.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has just publically notified another GE soybean line approval. This is the second GE food approval just this year alone, and takes the list up to 76 approved GE lines. Meanwhile, the Minister and FSANZ have still not responded to a University of Canterbury report released last month showing potential food safety risks related to GE foods.
“New Zealanders rely on FSANZ to be 100 percent sure that foods on our supermarket shelves are safe to eat, but the Minister is still announcing approvals without having completed a review of new evidence that shows risks,” said Green Party GE spokesperson Steffan Browning.
“FSANZ and Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye need to give the public some surety by issuing their response to this recent study before continuing to do business as usual ticking off more and more GE foods for sale.
“Without any monitoring or enforcement of GE labelling laws, New Zealanders are unable to have control over whether they eat foods with GE ingredients.”
The Canterbury University study found that food safety risks from GE are not being considered adequately by regulatory bodies around the world, including our own FSANZ.
“The system is working in the interests of agribusiness instead of New Zealanders and that’s the wrong way around,” said Mr Browning.
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“The solution, and what I have asked the Minister to do, is to halt any further approvals until the University of Canterbury research has been reviewed by FSANZ and testing regimes have been developed to prove that these foods are safe.”
Today’s notification of the approval: http://www.foodstandards.govt.nz/foodstandards/changingthecode/notificationcirculars/current/notificationcircular5845.cfm
ENDS
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