
GM potatoes, grown in the US, can now be imported and sold as processed food in Australia. Simplot, the developer of the GM potato, is a large multinational with brands such as:
- Birds Eye,
- Leggo’s,
- Edgell,
- Lean Cuisine,
- Harvest,
- Chiko,
- I&J,
- Five Tastes and
- Simply Great Meals.
They claim the GM potatoes are less likely to go brown, bruise and will produce less acrylamide that may, or may not, be linked to cancer*.
Perhaps this sounds interesting and potentially useful?
How would you feel knowing that the type of genetic modification used to make these new potatoes, RNA interference (RNAi), changed the way baby bees’ genes worked after just one meal? (Nunes 2013). It altered their hormones, immune system and response to stress. This surprised the scientists as they didn’t expect any effect, however, one in ten of the bees’ genes were affected and acted differently.
Simplot supplies fries and hash browns to McDonalds and as they would be sold ready to eat, they would not need to be labelled as GM whereas currently they would need labelling if sold in the supermarket. GM potatoes are the first GM vegetable or fruit allowed to be sold in Australia.
Australian regulators don’t test, don’t require peer reviewed studies and never refuse GM food applications
When companies want to release a new GM food they apply to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). This is a government department based in Canberra. They have no laboratories and do no research work. Instead, they look at the studies done by the applicant GM company, in this case Simplot. These studies are usually done in-house by the company scientists and are not published in journals or peer-reviewed. This means they avoid the scrutiny considered necessary for studies to be seen as part of scientific knowledge. They are a grey zone of science, where the company employs scientists, to create science, for the company’s benefit.
FSANZ has recommended the approval of every GM food application they have received. The Forum of Health and Agriculture Ministers from Federal and State Governments use FSANZ’s advice to approve GM food. FSANZ decides which evidence will be heard and given weight. This system is circular, FSANZ says it doesn’t approve GM food, the Forum does. The Forum says it approves GM food based on the advice of FSANZ. There is no Science Ombudsman who can investigate complaints of FSANZ dismissing or ignoring scientific evidence of harm or potential harm.
Peer reviewed evidence of damage from eating GM dismissed by regulator
FSANZ dismissed the peer-reviewed, published RNAi bee study (Nunes 2013) claiming it had no relevance to the GM potato despite using the same technique. They gave no reference to any science to back up their opinion. Instead they implied that if there were any problems the GM potatoes would have looked different. It is hard to respond to this. The point isn’t the appearance of a GM potato but the effect it has when eaten.
FSANZ have ignored scientists warnings of potential harm. The Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety (INBI) “predicted that dsRNA (i.e. RNAi) could be transmitted to humans through food, and that dsRNA would be sufficiently resistant to cooking and normal stomach pHs to potentially be taken up by cells or circulated through blood. If this were the case, there would be the potential to cause unintended and possibly adverse gene silencing in humans (Heinemann et al., 2011).” This means our genes and our health could be affected by eating this GM potato.
GM foods are being tested on us
FSANZ has already decided that animal feeding trials of GM foods are not necessary, except, perhaps, when there is a desired nutritional change. A GM potato claimed to reduce acrylamide, and therefore, perhaps, cancer, could be seen as necessitating a feeding trial. However FSANZ say “ There are also concerns about the unethical use of animals for feeding studies …” Is it unethical that children, pregnant women, elderly, or sick humans will be the first animals to eat a GM potato? FSANZ expects GM companies to “monitor for existing and emerging risks” of their products. This can only happen if people know when they are eating GM food.
You are probably eating GM food every day.
GM ingredients are in most processed food in Australia and are everywhere in the US food system. In the EU GM crops are mainly confined to imported GM soy, corn and canola fed to animals. This stark difference is because, unlike Australia and the US, the EU has clear GM labelling. Australia’s labelling is full of loopholes that means that even a bottle of canola oil made from 100% GM canola escapes labelling.
Currently, GM crops including soy, corn, canola, sugar beet and cotton, are processed into ingredients that avoid labelling in Australia. The GM potato is different. It is a whole food that will contain GM DNA and protein. It will be grown in the US, not Australia. Just over a quarter of processed potatoes in Australia are imported, mostly from the US. If they are pre-cut chips or other products and sold in supermarkets they would need to be labelled. Yet four out of five processed potatoes go to cafes, takeaways andrestaurants. These GM potatoes will escape any labelling. If the GM potato is processed into ingredients like potato starch, it will avoid labelling like other highly processed ingredients.
Will Simplot, the creator of the GM potato, insist that US farmers grow their patented GM potatoes, so increasing their profit? What will happen to Australian potato farmers who are already being undercut by cheap imports? Do we really want GM potatoes when conventional, non-GM, breeding has already developed potatoes resistant to blight, browning and that have low acrylamide when cooked?
What can you do?
This GM potato can only flourish in the dark, share this article with family and friends. Simplot supplies chips and hash browns to many companies including MacDonald’s. Let them know you don’t want to eat it and tell supermarkets that you don’t want to buy it.
Cooking at home, growing food, buying from local farmers and food outlets you trust is a great way to start protecting yourselves. This can be fun and friendly as well as delicious. We need a food system we can trust, where we know what we are eating and how it was grown. Take action and your action will help us all.
Happy Eating
Love
MADGE
*The US National Cancer Institute says that more studies are needed to show the effect of acrylamide in the diet on human cancers. They suggest "Decreasing cooking time, blanching potatoes before frying, and post drying (drying in a hot air oven after frying) has been shown to decrease the acrylamide content of some foods."
References
- https://www.simplot.com.au/our-brands/
- FSANZ application received from Simplot “A1128 – Food derived from reduced Acrylamide Potential & Browning Potato Line E12” http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/applications/Pages/A1128GMPotatoE12.aspx
- Nunes (2013) Non-Target Effects of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-Derived Double-Stranded RNA (dsRNA-GFP) Used in Honey Bee RNA Interference (RNAi) Assays
Insects 2013, 4(1), 90-103; http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/4/1/90 - FSANZ “Safety Assessment of GM foods” http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/gmfood/safety/Pages/default.aspx
- Heinemann et al 2011 “A comparative evaluation of the regulation of GM crops or products containing dsRNA and suggested improvements to risk assessments”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412013000494 - FSANZ application received from Simplot “A1128 – Food derived from reduced Acrylamide Potential & Browning Potato Line E12”
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/applications/Pages/A1128GMPotatoE12.aspx - FSANZ “Safety Assessment of GM foods” http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/gmfood/safety/Pages/default.aspx
- Australian Food and Grocery Council SUBMISSION 14 MAY 2010 to Department of Health and Aging IN RESPONSE TO: REVIEW OF FOOD LABELLING POLICY AND LAW
Page 44 “Option 2 Label when there is any GM use at all”...” Most food products currently would attract a label.” - REGULATION (EC) No 1830/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 September 2003 concerning the traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and the traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and amending Directive 2001/18/EC
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:268:0024:0028:EN:PDF - The Age May 5 2017 Victoria's traditional potato patch thins out as imports flood market Rochelle Kirkham
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorias-traditional-potato-patch-thins-out-as-imports-... - GM Watch “The superfluous GM potato” http://gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/15988-the-superfluous-gmo-potato
- https://mcdonalds.com.au/about-maccas/our-supply-chain/supply-partners