Dear Kurma,
I realize that this might be a politically sensitive question, but I’ll ask anyway. I’m getting more and more concerned about genetically engineered food. A friend of mine recently pointed out that some of the food available for our kids at their school canteen might be genetically engineered. This makes me both frightened and angry that our kids are being exposed to this sort of thing without parental consent, but I feel helpless.

Kurma, you’re a parent. What would you do about this if this were happening in your kids’ school?
Maria Farrugia, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia

Dear Maria,
Thanks for your letter. Of course I am concerned. Amazingly, my older son came home from college the other day with a pamphlet about this very subject! Very timely. So I will reproduce an edited version below:

Genetic Engineering is an industrial technology that enables the transfer of genes (DNA) between unrelated organisms and across the strong natural barrier between species.

Genetically engineered foods are already on sale in Australia. Most foods using ingredients produced using gene technology are not labelled.

What are these foods? The following list was excerpted from the ANZFA Fact sheet “Safety Assessment of GM Foods.”

Soybeans – soy drinks, lecithin, tofu, hydrolysed vegetable proteins, soy oil, soy flour.

Canola – canola oil, tocopherols, edible seed products

Corn or Maize – Corn oil, corn meal, corn starch, corn sugar or syrup, glucose, maltodextrin

Cotton – cottonseed oil, vegetable oil, small goods casings.

Potato – potato flour, potato starch, dehydrated potato flakes.

Sugar beet – sugar, maltodextrin, glucose.

Three reasons to be GE free at your school:

1. Genetically Engineered (GE) food costs the same as conventionally produced food but the long term effects could be very expensive.

Philip J Regal, Professor of Ecology, Behaviour and Evo-lution University of Minnesota has stated, "Such use of genetic engineering has the well-recognised potential to interfere with the normal activities of the engineered organism, for example so as to generate unexpected and unknown toxins, carcinogens, allergens and other anti-nutritive substances. "

Because children are growing and developing they will be exposed to food impacts the longest.

Dr Michael Antoniou, Senior Lecturer in Medical and Molecular Genetics, GKT School of Medicine, Kings College, London states "...genetically engineered food or enzymatic food processing agents may produce an immediate effect or it could take years for full toxicity to come to light. "

"GE risks, as previously covered, are either currently uninsurable or unattractive to the general insurance in-dustry in Australia. Coverage that is available is either restrictive or inadequate."
Insurance Council of Australia.
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2. Monsanto’s canteen doesn’t serve GE food so why should school canteens serve it?"

Monsanto is a company that owns the patents on more than 90% of all commercial GE crops.

Phil Angell, Director of Corporate Communications at Monsanto, states:“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible."

• Animal feeding trials of GE food are generally up to 28 days. The gene technology companies themselves perform most tests on GE food. Authorities such as the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) and United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) assess and approve the company results without independent tests.
  
  
• Food authorities worldwide have decided GE food is "substantially equivalent" to ordinary food and therefore safe. Substantial equivalence has been criticised as "a pseudo-scientific concept because it is a commercial and political judgement created primarily to provide an excuse for not requiring bio-chemical or toxicological tests."

We owe a duty of care to our children."GE food has been developed and introduced without full and adequate safety evaluation, public consultation or a rigorous assessment of the environmental, social and economic impacts".
The Public Health Association of Australia.
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3. The Reaction to GE food outside Australia.

• GE food is off school menus in Britain - schools, aged care homes and town halls have been advised not to serve GE food. The Local Government Association recommended a 5-year ban on GE food due to concern over effects on children and the elderly.

• McDonald's in Britain no longer uses meat from animals fed on GE crops, in response to public pressure. Ten percent of European farms are expected to be organic by 2005 in response to enormous concerns over how food is produced.
  
  
• The British Retail Consortium, which represents over 90% of food retailers in the UK, has called for clear labelling of GE foods. The Consortium will boycott suppliers of raw ingredients who cannot guarantee that natural foods are kept separate from those produced using GE.

What You Can Do

Schools are entitled to be GE free. Visit the GeneEthics website for further information and support: www.geneethics.org

For canteens run by outside contractors:

When school contracts for the purchase and supply of food are next renewed, insert a clause requiring the exclusive supply of foods that:

• are not derived from the products or processes of genetic engineering technology; and
  
• prohibits the supply of genetically engineered foods.
  

Since 7 December 2001 food processors have been legally required to know whether they are using GE ingredients or not. Therefore, it is easy for food processors to guarantee GE free food supplies.

For canteens run from within the school:

• Use the GeneEthics/Greenpeace True Food Guide (Australia) on how to shop GE free.
  
• Ring GeneEthics (Australia) on 1300 133868 for your copies.
  
• If in doubt, ring the 1800 numbers on food packets, ask which
  foods are GE free, and ask for their GE policy in writing.
  
• All food produced in Australia from Australian ingredients,
  except cotton seed products, is GE free. Look for the
  'Product of Australia' label. Avoid 'Made in Australia'.
  
• All unprocessed fruit and vegetables in Australia are GE free.

• Certified Organic and Biodynamic produce in Australia is GE free.

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