Organ Damage In Rats From Monsanto GMO Corn

Non-GM-Farmers.com Print Version
GM product recalls
28 March 2004

78 references to GM product recalls:

1. Canola seed recalled because of genetic contamination. THE WESTERN PRODUCER, April 24, (1997).

The federal government unwittingly allowed the sale of genetically modified canola seeds in 1997 that were “seriously contaminated,” according to government documents that have only now come to light.
Two varieties of genetically altered canola have been pulled off the market and seed is being recalled from farms because they carry the wrong gene, says the company thatdeveloped the varieties. Two varieties of Limagrain’s canola, which is resistant to theherbicide Roundup, were pulled from the market last week, said Ray Mowling,Monsanto’s vice-president of government and public affairs. Monsanto said it detected a gene from the unapproved canola line during quality control tests two weeks ago, early enough for the seed to be recalled. Fields plowed under About 60,000 bags of the two varieties, enough for 600,000 acres, will be recalled.
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2. Toblerone chocolate recalled by maker. Des Moines Register,,
(1997).

Some 500 tons of Switzerland/s best-known chocolate bar are being recalled after a routine check revealed the presence of genetically altered soybeans in lecithin - an ingredient in the bars. The company was forced to recall the bars because they could not legally be sold in Switzerland.
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3. Dutch corn gluten market on hold on GMO worries. Reuters, Dec 15, (1999).

The Dutch market in U.S. corn gluten, a major feed ingredient, has been thrown into confusion after environmental group Greenpeace charged that shipments contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) not approved by the European Union. The Dutch feed industry has agreed with the Dutch Dairy Industry Association not to use material from the recently arrived Flag Diamond vessel after analysis by Greenpeace showed presence of banned GMOs in corn gluten on the ship, spokesman Tim Browers of the dairy group told Reuters.
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4. Pioneer Maize Seed is Contaminated with a Illegal Variety. Friends of the Earth - PRESS RELEASE, May 4, (1999).

Some of the Pioneer maize seed being sold in Germany, under the brand name “Benicia”, which was turned over to police by BUND/FoE in Freiburg and analyzed by the official control laboratory, has been shown to be contaminated by a genetically modified (GM) variety which has not been authorized for cultivation in the European Union (EU).
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5. Growing evidence of widespread GMO contamination. Environmental Science and Technology magazine, Dec 1, (1999).

It is increasingly clear that GMO contamination of conventionally grown food is a serious issue. It now happens “quite often” that farmers are surprised to learn that crops they grew in the United States from non-GMO seeds test positive for GMOs when they reach Europe, said John Fagan, founder of Genetic ID of Fairfield, Iowa.
Much of the GMO contamination that such tests reveal can be traced to practices that fail to preserve the identity of non-GMO crops, Dautlick said. Commodities like soybeans, corn, and canola travel along a complex and convoluted path from the farm field to their ultimate destination on a consumer’s table, passing through a series of grain elevators, transport trucks, ocean barges, ports, and food companies. Careless practices like not properly cleaning out a weighing bin can lead to contamination.
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6. Swiss soiled seed prompts tolerance question. Nature Biotechnology, July, Vol 17, 629-629 (1999).

It was discovered by the Swiss Department of Agriculture that Pioneer Hi-Bred’s non-genetically modified corn seed varieties, Ulla and Benicia, actually contained novel genes from a variety of corn genetically modified to be resistant to the corn borer, Bacillus thuringiensis. Before the contamination was discovered, Pioneer had sold enough Ulla and Benicia seeds to sow 400 hectares (roughly 0.5% of total corn cultivation in Switzerland), about 200 hectares of which had already been planted.
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7. Francesca Lyman MSNBC contributor Transgenic pollution a new concern, MSNBC,
http://www.lightparty.com/Health/TransgenicPollution.html, Sept 14, (1999).

But far from being welcomed at their distribution point, the chips - made by Terra Prima, a certified organic producer in Hudson, Wisc. - were discovered by an independent tester to contain traces of genetically modified corn, and their Netherlands importer was notified. The company chose to destroy 87,000 bags of their corn chips and essentially swallow $147,000 when they couldn’t sell their product as organic - a big bite out of a company with only about $4 million in total sales, says Chuck Walker, its president. He blamed the contamination on pollen from GM corn that was blown over from another farm and whose patented gene was the same one picked up in the test.

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8. Genetically Altered Wheat Flagged - Thailand Detects Shipment Not Cleared For Commercial Sales. Spokesman Review, October 14, (1999).

Scientists in Thailand claim they found genetically modified wheat in a recent grain shipment from the Pacific Northwest. The news shocked
Northwest agricultural interests because transgenic wheat hasn’t been approved for commercia lsales and is grown only in test plots. Local agriculture agencies and scientists are trying to find out how the altered DNA got into the wheat that was sold.
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9. France Orders GM-Contaminated Soya Crop Destroyed. Reuters, August 5, (2000).

The French government ordered on Saturday the destruction of 46 hectares of soya crop after tests revealed that the seeds had been contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A statement signed by four ministries said the contaminated soya seed had been planted in fields in the far south of the country around the Bouches-du-Rhone and Herault. It said that the seed contained between 0.8 percent and 1.5 percent of genetically modified material. It did not reveal which company had supplied the seed.
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10. Greece to Destroy 9,000 Acres of Biotech Cotton. Reuters, Greenpeace-Greece via Cropchoice News, August 7, (2000).

The Greek agriculture minister announced today that the country will destroy over 9,000 acres of fields planted with biotech-contaminated cotton. Greece says it will pay affected farmers an estimated 3.5 million dollars. It is the first time that a government has ordered the destruction of a biotech crop used primarily for nonfood purposes. Greek officials say that more than 6 tons of cotton seed imported this year contained GMOs, none of which are approved for commercial planting in the country. Greek farmers were the biggest victims of the latest mixup, which was caused by seed companies not keeping conventional varieties separate from GMOs. None of the seeds were supposed to be biotech.
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11. Kraft Recalls Taco Bell Shells with Biotech Corn. Reuters, September 22, (2000).

Kraft Foods unit said on Friday it is voluntarily recalling all Taco Bell Home Originals taco shell products sold in U.S. grocery stores nationwide. Tests performed by an independent laboratory found, in certain samples, the presence of a variety of corn that Kraft had not specified for the product and which is not approved by U.S. regulators for use in food, Kraft said. The products being recalled are: Taco Bell Home Originals 12 Taco Shells, Taco Bell Home Originals 18 Taco Shells and Taco Bell Home Originals Taco Dinner containing 12 shells, sauce and seasoning. Consumers who have purchased the products should not eat them, and should return the packages to the store where they were purchased for a full refund, Kraft said.
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12. France finds traces of GM material in soybeans. Reuters, September 21, (2000).

French authorities have detected traces of genetically modified (GM) material in seeds used to plant 40 hectares of soybeans, but said on Thursday that no decision has been made on whether to destroy the crop. Tests revealed the seed contained less than 0.002 percent of a GM organism that has been authorised for import and consumption in France, but not for planting, the Finance Ministry’s competition and anti-fraud directorate (DNERF) said in a statement. It did not reveal where the soybean crop had been planted.
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13. Safeway withdraws taco shells due to biotech corn. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE, October 13, (2000).

Food retailer Safeway Inc. said yesterday it had ordered taco shells removed from shelves at about 1,500 Safeway and Vons stores nationwide after learning that biotech corn intended only for livestock feed had been found in them. A protein in Starlink corn, which is engineered to resist European corn borers, is safe for animals but may cause allergic reactions in humans. Those could include fever, rashes or diarrhoea, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists say.
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14. Mission Foods, Azteca Milling recall corn products. Reuters, October 13, (2000).

Two units of Texas food producer Gruma Corp. said they were voluntarily recalling some yellow corn products because they possibly could contain a gene-spliced variety not approved for human consumption. The products, made by Irving, Texas-based Gruma subsidiaries Mission Foods and Azteca Milling, are being recalled due to concern that they could contain StarLink, a type of biotech corn developed by French firm Aventis SA that is approved for use only in animal feed.
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15. Kyoritsu Shokuhin-Japan asks U.S. not to export corn with StarLink., October 27, (2000).

After the announcement by the Consumers Union of Japan on the finding of Starlink in food and animal feed led Tokyo-based unlisted food firm Kyoritsu Shokuhin to voluntarily recall a corn meal product named “Homemade Baking.” The consumer group urged the health and agriculture ministries to suspend imports of GM crops. In Japan, StarLink is not approved even for animal feed.
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16. Biotech corn found in another brand of taco shells-groups. Reuters, October 25, (2000).

A variety of biotech corn not approved for use in human food has been discovered in Western Family brand taco shells, the third time private tests have found contaminated taco shells, a coalition of environmental groups claimed Wednesday. The Genetically Engineered Food Alert, whose members include Greenpeace USA and Friends of the Earth, said in a statement it asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recall Western Family taco shells.
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17. Foods Contaminated by Genetically Engineered U.S. Corn Found in United Kingdom, Denmark. U.S. Newswire, November 6, (2000).

Friends of the Earth Europe announced a finding of food contamination by engineered corn grown and marketed in the U.S. but not approved for human consumption in Europe. The corn varieties is GA21, produced by Monsanto. FoE Europe commissioned laboratory tests, similar to those conducted in the U.S. to check for Starlink corn, on 31 products including tortilla chips, taco shells, polenta and corn flakes. In the UK, the tests found that Phileas Fogg AuthenticTM Tortilla Chips and house-brand tortilla chips sold by grocers Safeway and Asda contained Monsanto’s GA21 corn. Kims ZapatasTM, purchased in Denmark, also tested positive for the presence of GA21. The analysis was performed by GeneScan in Freiburg, Germany, one of Europe’s top laboratories. FOE Europe is demanding that all the contaminated products be recalled.
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18. S.Korea recalls StarLink contaminated tortillas. Reuters, November 10, (2000).

The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said on Friday it had recalled 14,528 kilogrammes of tortillas contaminated by StarLink corn. The KFDA also asked the U.S. embassy in Seoul to ensure no more exports of corn and processed food contaminated by StarLink corn, which is banned for human consumption in Korea, were made to Korea from now, its statement said. The KFDA also asked that further shipments of corn and processed food for human consumption should be certified as being free of StarLink corn.
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19. Japanese Food Ministry: Starlink found in 10 of 15 samples of U.S. corn. Kyodo News Service, November 13, (2000).

Two-thirds of samples of imported US-grown corn for use as animal feed tested positive to a genetically modified species known as Starlink which is banned in Japan, the farm ministry said Monday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said it has found that 10 of the 15 samples it picked from the imports tested positive to the “Starlink” corn variety that has stirred concern among consumer groups. In the tests from April through June, the samples were taken from freighters carrying the US-grown corn and animal feed factories, it said. ... Earlier, Japan suspended US corn imports after a complaint from a consumer group but recently restarted them following a US pledge to screen shipments for the presence of Starlink.
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20. Company Recalls Tortillas. Associated Press, November 3, (2000).

Wilson Foods Company said Friday it’s recalling some corn tortillas because they contain traces of an unapproved variety of biotech corn. The corn, known as StarLink, is not approved for human consumption because of questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions.
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21. Biotech corn protein found in other seeds. (AP), November 22, (2000).

Material from a genetically engineered type of corn found in taco shells earlier this year has been discovered in a different seed, officials said Tuesday. “We don’t yet know exactly what happened where and how,” USDA spokesman Andy Solomon said. “We are working with the companies involved and others in the industry to learn more about the nature and the extent of the situation.” Protein from StarLink was found in non-StarLink hybrid seed corn produced in 1998 and grown and harvested the following year. Garst Seed Co., which discovered the problem, said it was trying to determine how the protein, called Cry9C, made its way into another variety of seed other than the StarLink brand and how widespread the mix up might be.
“We’re too early into it to know exactly how many units, bags may have been affected,” company spokesman Jeff Lacina said. The seed’s developer, Aventis CropScience, said Tuesday that it had conducted its own tests after several farmers announced they had found the StarLink protein in other types of corn. Aventis said it could not explain the findings.
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22. GM maize is found in tortilla snacks. The Independent,
November 6, (2000).

Four leading supermarkets launched investigations today after tests commissioned by Friends of the Earth detected banned genetically modified maize in the stores’ own-brand tortilla chips. The pressure group took a total of 20 foods from British supermarket shelves and sent them to a laboratory in Germany to be analysed for types of GM maize which cannot legally be sold in Europe. Friends of the Earth said its tests found GA21 ‘Roundup Ready’ maize, developed by the biotechnology firm Monsanto, in three products including Safeway’s and Asda’s own-brand tortilla chips. Traces of another GM maize, DBT418, were found in own-brand tortilla chips sold by Sainsbury’s and Tesco. GM traces were also found in two types of Phileas Fogg chips.
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23. Cargill has StarLink corn problem under control - CEO. Reuters, October 20, (2000).

Agricultural giant Cargill Inc. found an unapproved variety of biotech corn in some of its food grain supplies recently, but the company has the problem under control, its chairman said Friday.
Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Staley said Cargill, like other agricultural companies caught up in the controversy, may have inadvertently processed StarLink corn for human food uses before implementing new testing procedures to identify and reject the grain at its food grain corn processing facilities. The testing technology became available to the industry only in recent weeks, he said.
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24. Corn Woes Prompt Kellogg to Shut Down Plant. Washington Post, October 21, (2000).

The Kellogg Co. has been forced to shut down production at one plant because the company could not find corn guaranteed to be free of a genetically modified grain approved only for animal consumption, food industry sources said yesterday. But two sources familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named, said the food giant, based in Battle Creek, Mich., had stopped production at the plant in midweek, and one said it remains closed.
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25. ConAgra Stops Producing Corn Flour. (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation, October 18, (2000).

ConAgra Foods Inc., one of the nation’s biggest food makers, announced Tuesday that it has stopped making corn flour at a Kansas mill because it may have received genetically modified corn that sparked a nationwide recall of some taco shell brands. The mill, ConAgra’s only corn flour plant, stopped processing corn on Oct. 11, ConAgra spokeswoman Karen Savinski said. ConAgra told its customers, a variety of food manufacturers, about the potential problem and asked them not to use the corn flour. How much corn flour might be involved was not immediately known, and Savinski declined to say how ConAgra found out StarLink may have been delivered to the plant.
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26. 300 taco, chip products recalled for bio-corn link. Reuters, November 1, (2000).

Nearly 300 kinds of taco shells, tortillas, chips and tostadas were recalled from U.S. grocery stores and restaurants because of suspected contamination with a biotech corn not approved for human consumption, the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday. In the most detailed list published to date, the FDA identified all the foods recalled by Mission Foods, a unit of Mexican company Gruma, which has been hit hard by the discovery of StarLink corn in its food products. The company makes a variety of foods containing corn flour that are sold under American grocery store brands, as well as to restaurants. Mission initiated a voluntary recall on Oct. 13, but did not make public at that time all the names of the products recalled.
The FDA said the recalled taco shells, tortillas and chips included those served at restaurants such as Applebee’s, Wendy’s, Del Taco, Casa Solana and La Cantina. The list of Mission’s recalled products also included many grocery store private label brands. They are Best Buy, Brookshires, Kroger Co., Food Lion, Fred Meyer, Kash-n-Karry, Rich Food, Shurfine, IGA, Albertson’s Inc, Safeway Inc., Vons, Brookshire’s, Bueno Comida, Food City, Sack’n Save, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
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27. Biotech Cottonseed Mistake in Australia Feeds Fears Editors.
Progressive Farmer, August 07, (2000).

Frustration and alarm were the response of regulators of genetically engineered crops in Australia, thanks to a recent mixup by Monsanto of 69 metric tons of genetically modified cottonseed with conventional seed. On the eve of the joint Australia and New Zealand decision to implement strict GM food labeling regulations, the Interim Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, headed by Liz Cain, said it was “gravely concerned” by the Queensland cottonseed mixup.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard had been lobbying for a 1% threshold for GM labeling; on July 28, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council instead set a 0.1% threshold, one of the strictest in the world. Now the OGTR, in place until a firm regulatory regime is introduced next year, will do an audit of Monsanto’s internal control processes to ensure that “such breaches are minimized in the future.” Monsanto notified the interim regulator on June 21 that an audit had revealed the seed mixup during the beginning process. OGTR reported there was no risk that the contaminated seed would be replanted, posing potential danger of unknown spread of GM plants.
The Australian Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee offered its opinion that no human health or environmental risks would ensue from the mixup.
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28. China wants labels on genetically modified crops. Muzi.com Lateline News, July 30, (2000).

China’s quarantine officials want genetically modified crop imports to be labeled accordingly, and have begun searching for unlabeled crop imports, the China Daily newspaper reported. The newspaper cited Shanghai city’s quarantine officials as saying they found genetically modified grains in a batch of Canadian canola seed imports.
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29. GMOs: Govt source says large-scale GM crops in 4 EU
countries. BridgeNews, May 17, (2000).

The growing of genetically modified crops on a commercial scale in four EU countries has inadvertently begun after imports of non-GM seeds from North America were found to have GM seeds mixed in, a government source in one of the countries told BridgeNews. The source said farmers in Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and Germany were thought to have planted the seed mixture for the current crop on as many as 10,000 hectares.
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30. Grocers Scramble to Pull Gene-Modified Corn. Reuters, October 17, (2000).

Major U.S. grocery chains, including Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - news) and Albertson’s Inc. (NYSE:ABS - news), scrambled to clear their shelves of recalled products that might contain gene-spliced corn, but few are issuing public statements to let shoppers know which brands to return. A concern they might contain a type of gene-spliced corn called StarLink that has not been approved for human consumption.
Besides Safeway, chains such as North Carolina-based Food Lion, a unit of Delhaize America (NYSE:DZB - news), and Massachusetts-based Shaw’s Supermarkets announced their own voluntary recalls on Monday.
With at least 35 chains pulling popular products ranging from taco shells to tortilla chips, consumers have a lot of labels to wade through, said the Consumer Policy Institute’s Butler.
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31. StarLink found in U.S. corn set for Japan food use. Reuters, December 19, (2000).

Japan’s Health Ministry has found StarLink corn in a cargo of corn awaiting shipment to Japan from the United States. The announcement came just a day after Japan’s Agriculture Ministry said it had agreed to a U.S. plan for testing corn to be shipped to Japan for animal feed to ensure it does not contain StarLink gene-spliced corn. Japan has cut purchases sharply since late October when it found StarLink in Japan’s food and feed products made from U.S.-imported corn. Kyodo said the sample containing StarLink was among five that had tested negative in the United States but were sent to Japan for a second check under an agreed procedure between the two countries, The ministry has asked the U.S. government to halt the shipment of the 1,500 tonnes of the corn from which the sample was taken. The finding could be a blow to U.S. exporters after traders said Monday’s agreement on the plan for genetic testing to detect StarLink biotech corn in exports for animal feed would likely spur Japanese buying of U.S. corn this week.
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32. Banned StarLink corn used for beer, processed foods in Japan., December 27, (2000).

The Health and Welfare Ministry said Wednesday it has confirmed that U.S.-grown genetically modified corn banned for consumption in Japan has been mixed with corn used for brewing beer and making processed foods. Of a batch of around 38,000 tons of corn imported from the United States, around 28,000 tons might have been blended with the StarLink variety, which has not been received safety clearance from the Japanese government. It has been processed into foods and materials for industrial products and they have been sold by manufacturers to distributors in Japan, the ministry said. Around 17,000 tons of such corn has been used to make beer, starch syrup and other foods, according to the ministry. The ministry said it believes most of the beer made from the problem corn has been consumed but it has faced difficulty in tracking down the syrup as it is used in a wide range of products. Around 250 tons of the corn was sold to 60 food companies for production of confectionery and has been used, the ministry said. But the ministry believe this portion of the corn is no longer in the market as the ‘best before’ dates of the products have long expired.
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33. Genetically-Altered Beans Found at Local Market Genetically altered beans have been found at a local market. Hankook Ilbo Korea Times, December 28, (2000).

The Citizen’s Alliance for Consumer Protection of Korea (CACPK) said yesterday that two kinds of genetically-modified (GM) beans were found after the Korea Gene Analysis Center analyzed 10 kinds of beans at its request. The two kinds were identified as bean sprout seeds from the U.S. and bean seeds that were allegedly grown in Korea. If they are domestic products, as merchants claim, not imported ones, it means that these kinds of beans have already been distributed nationwide,’’ said Park Hae-kyong from the watchdog for consumers’ rights.
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34.

Waiblinger, H. U., Pietsch, K., Ungermann, A. & Kroh, R. A. Gentechnisch veränderter Mais in Saatgut - Aktuelle Befunde und deren Interpretation. Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau, 96, 1-3 (2000).

This paper reports on the first findings of genetically modified maize in conventional seed maize in 1999. In a few seed maize samples contaminations of transgenic maize, especially with Events Mon 810, were detectable. The concentrations of transgenic maize in the positive samples were lower than 0.5%. The problem of interpretation of the findings is discussed from the view of seed and genetic law.
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35. USDA investigating origin of StarLink found by Japan. Reuters, January 16, (2001).

The U.S. Agriculture Department said Tuesday it was investigating whether a corn sample found to be tainted with traces of StarLink genetically altered corn was taken from an American shipment destined for Japan. Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said late Monday it found traces of the unapproved biotech corn variety in one of four samples sent on December 25 by U.S. grain exporters for food use. The same sample had tested negative in the United States.
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36. Japan says finds StarLink in U.S. corn sample. Reuters, January 24, (2001).

Japan’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday it has found traces of the unapproved biotech StarLink corn in one of five samples sent on January 15 by the United States for food use, the third such discovery in about a month. The same sample had tested negative on the U.S. side.
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37. Starlink contamination found in beer ingredient-FDA. Reuters/AP, January 13, (2001).

StarLink, a biotech corn variety not approved for human consumption, was, according to these stories, found in an ingredient used by some U.S. beer makers, federal regulators were cited as saying in a letter released on Friday by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.
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38. Japan farm ministry finds StarLink traces in feed. Reuters,
February 2, (2001).

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said on Friday it found traces of unapproved StarLink biotech corn in more than half of the samples it had taken from U.S. corn imported for animal feed. The announcement comes a day after the Consumers Union of Japan said it had found the gene-altered corn in one of 14 food products. The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that 26 out of 42 samples taken between October and December from the domestic market showed StarLink traces. That was before the ministry and the U.S. Agriculture Ministry agreed in December on a testing plan to
prevent StarLink from being mixed in corn exports to Japan for animal feed, the statement said. The amount of StarLink contamination was 0.19 percent on average, down from 0.48 percent for the period between July and September, it said.
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39. Engineered Corn Turns Up in Seed. Washington Post, March 1, A01 (2001).

Corn seed about to be sold to farmers for this year’s crop has been found to contain small amounts of a genetically engineered variety of the grain that prompted massive recalls of food and crops last year, government and industry sources said yesterday. Seed companies detected the presence of StarLink, while testing their stocks to make sure the seed was free of the biotech variety. In response, alarmed representatives of the seed industry and other corn and food industry officials are scheduled to meet today with officials from the three federal agencies that oversee agricultural biotechnology.
Representatives of the American Seed Trade Association, who are expected to be at the meeting today, declined to comment yesterday.
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40. Tasmanian government ‘outraged’ over GMO breaches Genetic. AAP NEWSFEED, February 28, (2001).

Secret and poorly supervised trials of genetically modified crops on behalf of multinational companies have been held across Tasmania, the state government revealed today. Primary Industries and Environment Minister David Llewellyn said he was outraged that genetically modified canola had drifted from some of the trials and could have mingled with related native weeds. Mr Llewellyn revealed the trials in evidence to a state parliamentary committee inquiry into GMOs.
But the guidelines were breached on 11 sites and on four of them thousands of regrowth canola plants had been found.
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41. GMOs Are Found in Morningstar Farms Products Food: Kellogg says discovery of genetically modified ingredients was an isolated incident. No decision has been made on recalls. LATIMES.COM, March 8,
(2001).

New laboratory tests have found that veggie burgers and meat-free corn dogs made by natural foods brand Morningstar Farms contain genetically modified soy and the controversial genetically altered feed corn, StarLink, that has not been approved for human consumption.Kellogg’s own tests confirmed recently that the soy protein it received from its suppliers was genetically altered. In another report Greenpeace commissioned from RHM Technologies in Britain, a biochemist estimated that 50% of the soy in the sample of Morningstar Harvest Burgers was of the Roundup Ready variety, a genetically modified soybean that is resistant to a popular weed killer.
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42. Genetically modified organisms found in biological animal feed, http://www.organicts.com/newsnow/, March 12, (2001).

Switzerland’s agriculture ministry has announced the discovery of genetically modified organisms (GMO), in organic animal feed. Meat from animals fed on the contaminated fodder was then sold under an organic label by Switzerland’s two main food retailers, Migros and Coop. The agriculture ministry spokesman, Jürg Jordi, confirmed the report in the Swiss newspaper, SonntagsZeitung. Jordi said that 17 per cent of the soja in the animal feed was genetically modified.

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43. Canada says banned GM corn mistakenly fed to animals.
Reuters, March 16, (2001).

Canada’s agriculture minister admitted on Friday that genetically modified corn containing the Starlink gene — not approved for use in Canada — was accidentally fed to animals. Some of it did get into the animal feed system,’’ Lyle Vanclief told the House of Commons in response to questions from opposition members about how two shipments of the corn entered Canada from the United States this week. Vanclief’s admission was a reversal of previous statements that one shipment was removed immediately and the second was traced and withdrawn.
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44. Starlink bio-corn said to be in 430 mln bushels. Reuters, March 18, (2001).

More than 430 million bushels of corn in storage nationwide contain some of the genetically engineered Starlink variety that prompted a massive recall of corn products last fall, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, quoting the company that made Starlink. The 430 million-bushel estimate dwarfs the amount of corn reported earlier from the 2000 crop as containing StarLink — about 50 million bushels grown by farmers licensed to use it and 20 million bushels from neighboring fields.
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45. Canada confiscates unapproved GM corn shipments. Reuters, March 15, (2001).

Canada quickly confiscated two corn shipments from the United States that were found to contain the Starlink gene — which is not registered for human or animal consumption in Canada. That genetically modified corn brand has not been registered for use in Canada.
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46. Biotech Corn Tainted Vast Amounts. Company’s Report Expands Estimate. Washington Post, March 18, (2001).

More than 430 million bushels of corn in storage nationwide contain some of a genetically engineered variety that prompted a broad recall of corn products last fall, the company that developed the corn will report today. The announcement greatly increases estimates of the amount of corn that was inadvertently mixed with the engineered variety, known as StarLink, which is not approved for human consumption. The affected corn — which is more than 4 percent of U.S. production from 1999 — will have to be rerouted to animal feed and ethanol production
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47. Italy police seize suspected GM maize from Monsanto. Reuters, March 26, (2001).

Italian police have seized about 120 tonnes of maize suspected of containing genetically engineered material from U.S. agricultural biotechnology group Monsanto. Authorities had found traces of genetically modified (GM) material in samples of maize stored at the Monsanto warehouse in Lodi and that further tests were under way. The Italian Agriculture Ministry said police had seized 80 bags of grain containing genetically modified material and had sent samples to Health and Agriculture Ministry laboratories to be tested.
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48. SOUTH KOREA: Korea finds unlabelled GM corn, beans on local market.Reuters, April 2, (2001).

South Korea said on Monday it had found four cases of genetically modified (GM) U.S. corn and soybeans among unlabelled products on the local market Korea has required labelling of GM corn, soybeans and bean sprouts for human consumption since the start of last month, and the ruling extends to potatoes in March 2002. The government ordered the positive samples to be properly labelled
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49. UK farm ministry finds GM presence in rapeseed. Reuters, April 12, (2001).

Britain’s Agriculture Ministry said on Thursday it had discovered genetically modified (GM) material in two trial rapeseed crops, which would be swiftly destroyed. A small quantity of imported spring rapeseed had tested positive for a promoter that could indicate genetic modification, and tests on a hybrid winter rapeseed variety had shown levels of GM presence, the ministry said in a statement.
``Neither of these varieties are being grown commercially in the UK,’’ it said, adding that the first crop would be destroyed by spraying and the other would be cut down.
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50. Scientists investigate ‘contamination’ of oilseed rape crops by GM material. The Independent, April 13, (2001).

Government scientists are investigating possible contamination of two conventional varieties of oilseed rape by modified genes. Both varieties were undergoing field trials at research sites when scientists discovered that they contained DNA commonly used in GM plants. Scientists from the Central Science Laboratory, the official GM inspectorate, are carrying out further tests to try to determine how the contamination occurred. One of the plants, a spring-sown variety called Dorothy, had been imported from Germany and had been planted on a small trial plot, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said yesterday. “These plants will be killed by spraying with herbicide as soon as they germinate,” Maff said. The second plant, a hybrid winter variety which is too new to have been given a name, was undergoing trials for being included on the national list of approved crops. It was sown last autumn in test and trial plots, Maff said. “Trial managers have been instructed to mow affected plots immediately to avoid cross pollination with adjacent fields,” said Maff. The Dorothy variety tested positive for the presence of a genetic promoter called P-Nos, which is commonly used to transfer genes into GM plants. The promoter also occurs naturally in soil bacteria that are also used to produce GM crops, a spokeswoman for Maff said.
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51. GM presence in seeds Inevitable, EU group says. Reuters,
April 5, (2001).

The presence of unauthorised genetically modified (GM) material in seeds is inevitable, an EU scientific committee has said. The Scientific Committee on Plants (SCP) also said the EU may have to revise its threshold for the compulsory labelling of food that may unintentionally contain GM material. Any such a revision would appear be upwards, according to sources familiar with the report. “The Committee is of the opinion that a zero level of unauthorised GM seed is unobtainable in practice,” it said in a report dated March 13.
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52. Seeds Contain Biotech Contamination. AP, April 23, (2001).

More than one quarter of the nation’s seed suppliers have found corn seed contaminated with traces of a biotech variety wasn’t approved for human consumption, the government says. The Department of Agriculture agreed to buy the contaminated corn to ensure that it doesn’t get planted. So far, 77 of the nation’s 281 companies have asked for the purchase contracts, USDA spokesman Kevin Herglotz said Monday. The testing is likely to continue for several years. ``The seed industry and USDA will continue to birddog this issue or situation until there is evidence that Cry9C is no longer in corn seed,’’ she said.
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53. StarLink stays with us. Cropchoice news, April 24, (2001).

Aventis has discovered low levels of its StarLink corn in more food products than previously thought. Tests revealed the transgenic variety in corn bread, polenta and hush puppies.
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54. Monsanto replacing GM canola seed in Canada. Reuters, April 25, (2001).

Monsanto Co. said it will replace its Quest canola seed variety in Canada this spring after quality tests on the genetically modified seed showed trace levels of an alternative version of the seed.
Monsanto said the quality tests on canola seed had produced traces of a newer variety, GT-200, in seed lots designated as the normal commercial version, GT-73. The two seeds are “virtually identical” but GT-200 has not yet been approved in all countries where Canadian canola is exported. “Both versions are fully approved in Canada and completely safe, but the companies are acting to avoid any trade issues with other countries.”
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55. (Starlink found in Canada). The Gazette (Montreal), April 25, (2001).

A banned genetically modified corn, Starlink, has, according to this story, cropped up in Canada - in trace amounts in pasta on store shelves. More than 100 food and 25 seed samples have been tested.
During the sampling, trace amounts of the corn were initially found in taco shells in Canada, and then later tests turned up trace amounts in two different brands of pasta last month. The story also says that thousands of tonnes of the corn also passed through Quebec grain elevators last year before federal officials tightened shipping regulations. The Canadian Grain Commission found two lots of Starlinkcorn in transfer elevators along the St. Lawrence Seaway in November.
___________________________________________

56. German State Finds GM Material in Maize Seed. Reuters, April 27, (2001).

German authorities said on Friday they had discovered genetically-modified maize seed mixed in with normal seeds imported from Chile and Canada.
___________________________________________

57. ENVIRONMENT REPORTER, April 30, (2001).

Organic produce such as corn and canola imported from North America can no longer be guaranteed free from genetically modified (GM) organisms, according to the Organic Federation of Australia. The federation is warning consumers that GM pollution is now so pervasive in North America that foodstuffs containing imported ingredients cannot be guaranteed GM-free without testing. Recent media reports have highlighted the problem, including a Wall Street Journal investigation that tested 20 organic products with GM-free labels and found 16 had traces or more of GM organisms.
___________________________________________

58. Testing Shows Unapproved, Altered Corn More Prevalent Than Thought. Boston Globe, May 17, (2001).

StarLink, a genetically engineered corn not approved for human consumption, has turned up in nearly one out of four grain samples undergoing the government’s most stringent tests, a far higher number than previously reported and another sign of the chaos the corn’s presence has caused. The Department of Agriculture has tested 118,000 samples since November. Overall, about 9 percent have tested positive for StarLink. But since February, the USDA has carried out more accurate tests that can determine one kernel of StarLink in a batch of 2,400. Of those 6,000 samples, 22 percent have tested positive for the corn, which the federal government barred for human use because of concerns it might cause allergic reactions, said John C. Giler, chief of the Grain Inspection Service’s policies and procedures branch. “It’s definitely in the system because we’re finding it.”
___________________________________________

59. Press Release, Greenpeace May 04 (2001)

Greenpeace tests on so called conventional seeds due for planting in thecoming weeks in the EU show they are contaminated with geneticallyengineered (GE) seeds. The findings add to the mounting evidence ofwidespread illegal GE pollution in Europe.(1) Tests on three maizevarieties in Austria by an independent laboratory show the presence ofboth Monsanto and Novartis strains of GE seed.(2) Two further cases wereuncovered in Germany last week.
___________________________________________

60. Japan food recall revives StarLink biotech scare. Reuters, May 25, (2001).

The Health Ministry on Thursday ordered Osaka-based House Foods Corp to recall some of its snack products, called O’ZACK, after the ministry found traces of unapproved genetically modified (GM) NewLeaf Plus potato in the products. The recall is Japan’s first after the imposition of stricter rules for imports of biotech products in April, when the ministry introduced checks for unapproved GM crops in food imports at unloading ports and in food products on the domestic market.
___________________________________________

61. INDIA: US products in India contain GE ingredients, companies accused of double standards, just-food.com editorial team, http://just-food.com/news_detail.asp?art=34659&app=1, June 07, (2001).

In India, severe restrictions already exist on the import, sale and use of GE products without the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). Nevertheless, independent tests carried out by Hong Kong DNA Chips on six consumer products have shown that Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready corn is present both in Abbott Laboratories’ Isomil baby food and Procter and Gamble’s Pringles potato chips.

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62. More brands found with GM soy - Five baby food, milk products singled out. The Bangkok Post, June 14, (2001).

Five baby food and milk products sold in Thailand have been found with genetically engineered ingredients, Greenpeace Southeast Asia said yesterday. The products use soy bean as ingredients. They are: Nestle Cerelac, Ensure Complete and Isomil infant formula by US-based Abbot Laboratories, Wyeth:S-26 Modified Milk Powder for Infants by Wyeth-Ayerst International, and Frisosoy soy-protein based infant formula by Foremost Friesland Bangkok. Results of tests in a Hong Kong laboratory showed that the soy ingredients were genetically engineered. They came from Roundup Ready soya and Bt maize produced by the giant biotech company Monsanto.
___________________________________________

63. Japan’s snack recalls exacerbate biotech fuss. Reuters, June 22, (2001).

Distrust over genetically modified (GM) foods in Japan deepened on Friday after the third recall in less than a month of snack products containing unapproved gene-spliced potato. Japan’s Bourbon Corp said it had voluntarily recalled some of its snack products after traces of unapproved NewLeaf Plus potato were detected. It was the second case this week after the nationwide recall by Calbee Foods of its ‘Jagariko’ snack on Wednesday and Japan’s third since the imposition in April of stricter rules to guard against imports of unapproved GM products.
___________________________________________

64. Calbee recalls snacks made with GM potatoes. The Yomiuri Shimbun (The Daily Yomiuri), June 21, (2001).

Calbee Food Co. announced Wednesday a recall of its popular Jagariko line of snacks produced as of June 7 because authorities found the products were made from genetically modified potatoes, which the government has not yet confirmed to be safe. The Tokyo metropolitan government’s Bureau of Public Health, saying Calbee may have violated the Food Sanitation Law, had ordered the Kita Ward, Tokyo-based food maker to investigate the snacks’ distribution routes. Two varieties of Calbee’s Jagariko snacks—cheese flavored and lightly salted—were found to contain genetically modified potato. The same variety of genetically modified potato was also found in some of House Food Corp.’s Ozakku snacks last month, and the Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture-based company was ordered to voluntarily recall the products.
___________________________________________

65. StarLink bio-corn found in white corn products. Reuters, July 4, (2001).

StarLink corn, the genetically modified yellow variety whose presence in food products last fall resulted in widespread recalls, has been found for the first time in a white corn product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it found genetic material from StarLink corn, which has not been approved for human consumption, in Kash n’ Karry White Corn Tortilla Chips last month while investigating a complaint from a Florida optometrist, Dr. Keith Finger. FDA’s discovery of StarLink in a white corn product is significant because many food manufacturers last year switched to white corn, which makes up less than 3 percent of the U.S. corn market, to reassure consumers concerned about the possible presence of StarLink in their taco shells and corn chips.
___________________________________________

66. Japan P&G recalls Pringles over barred GM potato. Reuters, July 17, (2001).

The Japanese unit of Procter & Gamble Co said on Tuesday it would recall some 800,000 packs of its Pringles potato chips that were found to contain unapproved genetically modified (GM) potatoes (NewLeaf varieties).
___________________________________________

67. French agency finds GMO traces in regular crops. Reuters, July 25, (2001).

French food safety agency AFSSA said on Wednesday it had found traces of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in several conventional crops in France. The agency said it had discovered presence of 35S marker — a little stretch of genetic material used in most GMOs — in 19 out 112 samples of rapeseed, soy and maize seeds analysed. For maize samples, the contamination level reached 41 percent, it said. AFSSA also said testing methods only detected quantities of GMOs exceeding 0.1 percent, meaning it ``could not exclude the presence of other GMOs at weaker levels.’’
___________________________________________

68. Socio-Ecological Institute, P. A., The Netherlands/FoEE, Belgium Unauthorised and Unlabelled Genetically Engineered Soya Product found on Polish Market July 25 (2001)

Environmental groups today revealed that a soya product sold by the Czech company Sant*, in Poland, contained 4% genetically modified soybeans. The product was bought in Poland in February this year and sent for testing to the US laboratory, Genetic ID, in Iowa. According to Polish legislation, the company Sant* requires an authorisation before putting products containing GMOs on the Polish market and they must be labelled. “This product was neither approved, nor labelled” says Ela Priwiezincew, from the Polish group, Socio-Ecological Union.

___________________________________________

69. Greenpeace protests at Novartis ``GMO baby food’’. Reuters, August 21, (2001).

Protesters lined up dozens of plastic baby dolls on Tuesday outside the Basel head office of Swiss drugs group Novartis AG (NOVZn.VX), alleging that gene-modified soy had been found in some of its baby food. A spokesman for environmental lobby group Greenpeace, which mounted the protest, said a Hong Kong laboratory, DNA Chips, had found high concentrations of the controversial ingredient in three products sold in the Philippines by its U.S. unit Gerber.
___________________________________________

70. Lilliston, B. Farmers Fight to Save Organic Crops, The Progressive, http://www.progressive.org/0901/lil0901.html, (2001).

In April, The Wall Street Journal tested twenty food products labeled “GMO free” and found that sixteen of them contained at least traces of genetically modified ingredients; five had significant amounts.
One of the companies testing positive, albeit with trace amounts, was Nature’s Path Foods, the largest organic cereal company in the world. “We have found traces in corn that has been grown organically for ten to fifteen years,” Arran Stephens, president of Nature’s Path Foods, told The New York Times in June. “There’s no wall high enough to keep that stuff contained.”

___________________________________________

71. THE BIG GM COVER-UP. DAILY MAIL (London), August 13, (2001).

ONE in ten foods on sale in high street stores contains GM ingredients without declaring details on the label, an investigation has revealed. Everyday products such as bread, cakes, burgers, ready meals, soya products and crisps were involved, sold at a wide range of outlets and including household names. The major supermarkets claim to have removed GM ingredients from their own- brand products in response to customer concerns. But the discovery of the deception - which is a criminal offence - makes it clear manufacturers and retailers are failing to carry out proper checks. EU rules allow foods to contain up to 1 per cent GM ingredients without declaring the fact on the label.
___________________________________________

72. Farmers Fight to Save Organic Crops. Progressive, September, (2001).

For the last four years, Nebraska organic farmer David Vetter has been testing his corn for a new kind of pollution. Situated right in the middle of corn country, all around him are farmers growing genetically modified corn. And that poses a problem. Corn is an open-pollinating crop. Wind and insects can carry pollen from a few yards to several miles. Last year, Vetter’s organic corn tested positive for genetic contamination.
___________________________________________

73. Mexican government announces transgenic contamination found in corn, CropChoice news, September 20, (2001).

The Mexican government announced earlier this week the transgenic contamination of indigenous corn varieties from the state of Qaxaca. Though the government had allowed for the importation of genetically modified corn from the United States for grain and industrial uses over the past few years, apparently seed also made it into the country.

___________________________________________

74. NOVARTIS TO WITHDRAW GM SOYA FROM BABY FOOD. L’Agefi Suisse,
October 8, (2001).

Research conducted by Greenpeace has found between 34 and 66 per cent of GM soya in Novartis baby food available on the Philippines market.
___________________________________________

75. Illegal GM canola found, http://www.brandenburg.de/land/mlur, October 2, (2001).

The Ministry for Agriculture of Brandenburg, Germany found forbidden GM canola. The genetic manipulation is most probably caused by illegal cross pollination with other plants.

___________________________________________

76. GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS DETECTED. Associated Press, August
11, (2001).

The Japanese agricultural ministry was cited as saying Friday itsinvestigation of 59 soy bean and corn processed food products has foundthat11 contain genetically modified food. The story says that one of the products, a cornmeal, had a label that said it is not genetically modified despite some 6% of the cornmeal containing GMO based on weight, the ministry said.
___________________________________________

77. N. Dakota Farmer Takes Case to WTO. South Florida Sun-Sentinel, November 10, (2001).

North Dakota farmer Tom Wiley signed a contract to supply 15,000 bushels of soybeans to Japan. Before it was accepted it had to undergo a number of quality checks, including a test to establish what proportion was genetically modified. Japan allows up to 1 percent of food to be genetically altered, he said. Wiley’s soybeans showed 1.37 percent. He lost the contract and it cost him thousands of dollars. Wiley doesn’t use genetically modified crops, but some of his neighbors do, and he suspects cross-contamination. “I was already interested in the problem, but when it hits you in the pocket it really becomes a lively issue for me.
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78. Pressespiegel Gentechnologie No. 44 September 2001. (Contamination in Switzerland). Basler Appell gegen Gentechnologie via Genetic Engineering Newsletter 28, November 2001. (2001).

GM maize found in many food products in Northwestern Switzerland: 56 food products were tested for GMO`s. 28 products (50 %) contained low amounts of GMO´s (below 1%).
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79. Danish Organic Feed Found to Contain GMOs (Posted: 10-Dec-01), FAS Online (via agnet), http://gefoodalert.org/News/news.cfm?News_ID=3038, November, (2001).

Since January 1, 2001, the Danish Plant Directorate under the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has been quietly testing organic feed for GMOs. Organic feed sampled from eight Danish feed companies revealed traces of GMOs in 20 samples out of a total of 48, and in 7 samples, in quantities of more than 1 percent. To emphasize the seriousness of this offense, the Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries fined two firms. The survey from February to July, 2000 disclosed that one third of all products contained more than one percent GMO and none of these were labeled, as required. Ten percent of all products tested had a GMO content above 3 percent. Labeling of approved GMOs is mandatory if the GMO content is above 1 percent. The results of this new survey will be published before January 1, 2002.

—

***********************************************************************
Andrew Taynton, SAFE FOOD COALITION in association with the NATURAL LAW
PARTY. Cell 083 662 0411, e-mail: taynton@cdrive.co.za

1) The poor economic and agricultural performance of Genetically Modified
crops: http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmagric.htm

2) 50 HARMFUL EFFECTS OF GM FOODS: http://www.cqs.com/50harm.htm

Endorse the “Freeze” (moratorium) on GM foods & GM crops in South Africa:
Tel 021-447 8445, e-mail: safeage@mweb.co.za Web: http://www.safeage.org/

Source: Andrew Taynton
South Africa

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