Doctors Alarmed by Gene-Altered Foods

Thursday, March 14th 2002

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Doctors alarmed by the ANZFA decision to allow the introduction of many gene-altered foods in New Zealand without labelling

Guy Hatchard, Director of the Natural Food Commission, tonight condemned today's decision of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) to allow the majority of genetically altered foods to be sold in New Zealand without adequate testing for health hazards and without compulsory labelling. He explained that the decision has failed to take account of new research published in recent months that shows health risks of gene-altered foods are much greater than previously thought.

Recently published research conducted in Canada shows that viral fragments commonly inserted in foods by genetic engineers can easily recombine with other viruses to reactivate their potential to cause disease. A complementary research study conducted in Germany showed that these foreign genetic sequences can survive digestion, enter the bloodstream, and then invade cells where they can cause new illnesses. Furthermore, altered genes have now been shown to pass from one plant to another where they can cause unexpected allergenic or toxic effects. "The regulations proposed by ANZFA will not be adequate to protect the public from these harmful effects", said Mr Hatchard.

"Nor is the decision in tune with the wishes of the New Zealand public who want to know whether their food has been genetically altered", he said. "In Europe, new regulations require that all genetically altered foods have to be labelled. The purpose of labelling is enable doctors to trace new allergies, toxins, and illnesses as they arise. In New Zealand, this will not be possible."

Medical Doctors characterise the ANZFA proposals as highly risky
New Zealand medical doctors have been quick to point out that the health hazards are potentially very serious. Dr David Lovell-Smith, a Christchurch GP, writes in the 28th January 1998 issue of the GP Weekly that "genetically altered food is unacceptably risky". He cites an example from the USA where dozens of people died and thousands of others were hospitalised after eating a genetically altered food supplement which was not labelled. "The absence of labelling caused a fatal delay in the diagnosis of the new illness", he concludes.

Dr Lovell-Smith summarised the risks of ANZFA's proposed regulations in his GP Weekly article as follows: "It is frankly unscientific to expect that the system of evaluation for genetically altered food being proposed by ANZFA could ever hope to trap all possible toxic compounds and potential allergens.....We all have a right to know that food is completely safe. The introduction of novel, unquantifiable risks is simply not justified."

Source Press Release:24th February 1998,Guy Hatchard

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