South Australia Genetic Food Information Network

GM Food Presentation by Dr. Judy Carman and Prof. GE Séralini

2012-02-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

WHERE:
University of South Australia
West Campus
Hans Heysen Building
Room:
HH3-09 Lecture Theatre

WHEN:
Wednesday 29 February 2012 6:45 - 8:15 p.m.

COST:
Free

Dr. Judy Carman Links:

Professor Eric Séralini Links:

Keep South Australia's Future GM Free

2012-01-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

South Australians continue to support the GM crop moratorium in this state. This was made evident when earlier this year, SA Business put out a call for the South Australian government to end the GM crop moratorium.

Public reaction to this news left no doubt as to how the majority of South Australians feel about keeping South Australia GM-free. Over several days, the Advertiser newspaper published letters to the editor that expressed support for the GM ban. The Adelaide Now online news service also received similar feedback to the article.

SAGFIN was established in 1998 when the first GM products began making their way on to Australian supermarket shelves and many Australians were unaware of the existence of GM foods. Back then, the argument put forward by GM promoters was that if the Australian public rejected GM food it was because the public was uneducated and uninformed about the genetic manipulation of food crops. Today the public have demonstrated that they are well informed about the issues relative to GM crops and food and their opposition is even stronger.

The reaction to the call to lift the moratorium was a reminder to our state government of the public’s support for the ban. The present government extended the moratorium in 2008 and has confirmed its commitment to supporting the ban until 2019. SAGFIN understands that the state opposition has also committed to supporting the ban but only until the next election in 2014. SAGFIN will be endeavouring to meet with the Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Adrian Pederick MP, in the new year and in the meantime has secured a meeting with Gail Gago MLC, Minister for Agriculture, for January 2012 in order to discuss their respective views on the future of GM agriculture in South Australia. The Greens have a clear policy on GMO’s and support applying the precautionary principle by maintaining “a moratorium on the release of GMOs into the environment until there is an adequate scientific understanding of their long term impact on the environment, and human and animal health.”

The benefits to South Australia of upholding the ban have been proven. While Western Australia continues to suffer from contamination issues since it approved the commercial cultivation of genetically engineered crops in 2010, South Australian farmers are reaping the benefit of a premium for their non-GM crops. A premium of $50/tonne over the price for GM canola was confirmed this year by Co-operative Bulking Handling and the premium is expected to be maintained. South Australia has positioned itself well to take advantage of any market that shuns Western Australia because of GM contamination concerns. While the benefits of the moratorium may be obvious for many of the food producers in South Australia, some sectors of the food industry continue to oppose the moratorium.

No doubt the GM industry will continue its push to have the moratorium removed in South Australia and will intensify its efforts as we move towards the next election but by continuing to be pro-active, vigilant and timely with our responses we can keep SA GM-free.

GM Free : the Way to Be

2011-11-22T17:31:00.001-08:00

Business SA put the issue of GM (genetically modified) crops in the spotlight and opened up an opportunity to lay the facts out as they really are.

SA's new premier, Jay Weatherill, won't need a survey to know where the voters stand on government policy that protects SA's food producers' clean and green image.

Business SA may well be wishing the call to drop the GM crop ban in SA had never made it to the front page of the Advertiser newspaper (19/10/11) as the response from the SA public was swift and robust.

It came from a wide demographic of well-informed individuals who overwhelmingly took a GM-free stance.

The position of maintaining the GM crop moratorium in SA is also supported by the Liberals and Greens.

Ten years ago if you had asked the public in the street their opinion on genetically engineered food many wouldn't have known what you were talking about.

Today whether you call it GE, GM or genetically modified food, most people have an opinion and their opinion more often than not is based on fact.

In their collective letters to the editor and on-line comments, the public identified a wide range of issues concerning GM food and crops including:

INSERTING bacterial DNA into food crops in order to produce herbicide tolerance and Bt toxins
LACK of food safety testing
PATENTING of seeds
EXPENSE to farmers in buying GM seeds
COST and restrictions imposed by the license to grow
LOSS of a premium paid for non-GM crops and contamination of conventional seed and crops.

Within months of the first commercially grown GM canola being planted in WA in 2010, farmer Steve Marsh lost his organic certification when GM seed contaminated two-thirds of his arable land.

He believed seed may have blown in from a neighbouring farm.

With Kangaroo Island already claiming a premium price from the Japanese market for its canola, SA stands to benefit from WA's demise.

Just over a week ago Australia was visited by a Japanese consumer cooperative seeking GM-free supplies of canola.

Clearly, the best future for SA is a GM-free future.

Note: Originally published online at

www.ourworldtoday.com.au

GM Free : the Way to Be

2011-11-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

INSERTING bacterial DNA into food crops in order to produce herbicide tolerance and Bt toxins
LACK of food safety testing
PATENTING of seeds
EXPENSE to farmers in buying GM seeds
COST and restrictions imposed by the license to grow
LOSS of a premium paid for non-GM crops and contamination of conventional seed and crops.

Silent Forest Showing

2011-05-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

Willunga meeting about Silent Forest David Suzuki

Contents:

Supported by the Adelaide & Mt lofty Ranges NRM Board

Video Evening & Discussion

(supper provided)

Thursday 19^th May @ 7pm

Our Guest Speaker, Dr Phil Davies, Director of the Institute of Health & Environmental Research, will introduce the movie and be available for the discussion afterwards.

A Silent Forest is a documentary about the largely unknown potential danger to human health, and the environmental health of our planet, posed by the planned introduction of genetically engineered trees.

Narrated by Dr. David Suzuki, the film lays out, in compelling detail, the dangers of open-air plantations of these untested man-made trees, and the added problem of intellectual property rights.

With the potential for cross contamination of private, and national, and state forests with patented genes contained in the pollen of genetically engineered trees, who would now own these infected trees? Would a company like Monsanto be able to go into a national forest and harvest the infected trees because they contain their patented genes?

This film is a wake-up call to the dangers of genetic engineering of trees, and the impact it could have on all of us.

For Bookings; call in to 18 High St, Willunga, phone 8556 4188, or email:willungaenviro@westnet.com.au

NO Genetic in AUSFTA ?

2010-08-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

A government document storage area was accessed to obtain copies of the five main portions of the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA).

These documents were obtained as PDF files (Adobe document format) and searches were made through the documents for the string terms

genet
biotech

There was NO detection of these strings in the documents.

We had been advised that there was a clause in the AUSFTA that specifically provided a clear pathway to market for Genetically Modified food but it was not found in the five main principal documents of the AUSFTA.

Further conversion of these five documents to text files was done, a reliable text search tool was used to examine them, and, once again :

There was NO detection of the string "genet" in the documents.

Also, searches for the words "gm" and "ge" and "gmo" were made and these strings, as words, were also NOT in the documents.

It is possible that there is NO mention of a "clear pathway to market for Genetically Modified food" in the AUSFTA.

The web site where the AUSFTA documents may be examined is:

www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us_fta/final-text

Click on these links for copies of the AUSFTA:

Final_text_ausfta
Annex_I_combined
Annex_II_combined
Annex_III_Aus
Annex_III_US

How to Avoid GM Food

2010-07-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

To avoid GM foods:

Be very wary of processed foods.
Be aware that many labels are so vague that you cannot work out the source of ingredients such as "vegetable oils" or "thickeners" and processing agents are not listed.
Anything that is "Product of Australia" which doesn't contain cottonseed products, canola products or unspecified vegetable oils should be ok.
Organic certification in Australia precludes GM contamination. This is NOT the case with American organic produce.
Most GM crops are grown in the USA - avoid American imports in particular.
Milk products from the US can be from cows treated with GM growth hormone.

Note: there is no labelling of animal products (meat, eggs, dairy) from animals fed GM foodstuffs, and pork can be treated with GM growth hormones.

GM foods to watch for are:

Bacterial Starter Cultures and Enzymes – cheese and fermented and leavened products
Canola - "vegetable oils", canola oil, baked and fried goods, margarines, salad dressings, lethicin
Corn/Maize - corn flour, corn oil, corn protein, corn syrup, corn starch, glucose, maltodextrin, dextrose, modified starches, thickeners, additives, corn products e.g. corn flakes etc.
Cottonseed products - oil as 'vegetable oil" in many baked goods, take away fried foods, salad dressings etc., thickeners (linters) - thickened processed foods e.g. icecreams and many others, and sausage casings.
Fungal Enzymes and Yeasts – bread, beer, fruit juices
Lucerne – animal feed, alfalfa sprouts, tea
Processed potato products – potato starch, modified starch, thickeners
Rice – gluten free products, baby cereal, rice crackers, rice bran oil, thickening agents
Soy products- soymilks, tofu, soy protein, soy flour, soy or vegetable oils, lecithin, various food additives, processing aids; soy protein isolates in processed foods such as bread, smallgoods and processed meats, soups, vegetarian foods, infant cereals and formulas, and ice creams.
Sugarbeet – sugar, MSG
Vitamins - some are produced by GMOs. So are some processing aids.

Dr. Judy Carman : Brinjal Food Safety Studies

2010-06-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

A GM Food scientist is Dr. Judy Carman.

For an on-line in-depth article that features Dr. Carman in action on the front-line of defence against Genetic Food Mutation, please visit

GM Watch : Brinjal Food Safety Studies

On this web page there is a list of credits to Dr. Carman and also proof of GM Food questionability.

The UK-based group GM Watch has an excellent list of "must see" videos related to GM Food.

Congratulate Minister O'Brien

2010-04-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

Congratulate New SA Agriculture Minister

Express your Support for the SA GM CROP Moratorium Extension.

Before the recent election the government announced a pledge to extend the GM crop moratorium in SA to 2014.

But there is more!

Recently the SA Government promised to

"strictly enforce quarantine laws that prohibit GM seed from entering South Australia"
"increase government funding to develop more sustainable farming systems, including organic and GM-free"

Please congratulate the new Agriculture Minister and express your support for keeping SA GM-free by contacting :

Honourable Michael O'Brien
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries

Email:: napier@parliament.sa.gov.au; or; minag@saugov.sa.gov.au
Telephone:: 08 8226 0322

17th Floor, Grenfell Centre
25 Grenfell Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000

Election Update

2010-03-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to all who contributed their efforts to the campaign to SAVE SA'S MORATORIUM AGAINST GROWING GM CROPS!

Also a big thank you to support from National groups, who have been working hard on our behalf.

The Labor Government has committed to continuing the moratorium till 2014.

This outcome is fantastic!

The Liberal Opposition has made a statement to the effect that it supports the moratorium, but will be monitoring interstate progress, and has not given a duration for its commitment to date.

The Greens and Democrats remain opposed to GM.

WHAT TO DO NEXT?

A last minute pre-election flurry of letters to the Liberal party and letters to the editor calling on the Libs to match the Labor Government's commitment to keep the moratorium till at least 2014 would be great.

Contacts:

Isabel Redmond heysen@parliament.sa.gov.au

Adrian Pederick adrian.pederick@parliament.sa.gov.au

The Advertiser: advedit@theadvertiser.com.au (plain text, no attachments) or talk back 8212 3488

Take Action Before the Election

2010-03-09T19:44:00.001-08:00

Genetically modified foods are on the shelves at a supermarket near you. GM foods have not been subjected to independent safety testing and may be a risk to your health.

One of the few things that has helped to minimize GM foods in Australia is the moratoria on GM crops that have been maintained by several State Governments. One by one, the other mainland states (apart from South Australia) have yielded to GM pressures, and have allowed GM crops to be planted. The current South Australian moratorium on the growing of commercial GM crops could also be overturned due to pressure from the GM industry.

If you want SA to remain free of GM crops now is the time to do something about it. Write to your local MP and council before the election. We have drafted pro forma letters that you can use to prepare your own personalised letters to councils and politicians.

Please also send this information on to your own contacts. If you are able to, print out copies of the GM Election Poster and the pro forma letters (see below), and ask local businesses to display them.

Click here for GM Election Poster

Politician letter - Copy and send to your local MP. Edit with your own words.

Dear

I would like to congratulate the Government on supporting South Australia’s clean and green image by enforcing the moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops. However, I am concerned that the moratorium does not have a defined timeframe. I would feel reassured to know how long the Government will be committed to continuing the moratorium, and in particular that the commitment will hold for at least the term of the next Government.

Although it is impossible to predict future markets for GM and non-GM crops, the ability to attract premium prices for non-GM has already been illustrated by the current situation in Victoria, where non-GM canola has attracted a premium price.

In the absence of adequate containment measures GM crops may pollinate non-GM crops to such an extent that non-GM crops might disappear altogether over a given area, causing a shortfall in supply to the non-GM market.

A moratorium ensures that non-GM varieties will be available for marketing in the future and will allow SA to continue to prosper its agricultural sector and benefit from premium prices for GM free exports.

In order to protect the interests of South Australians, the moratorium should remain in place until the safety and environmental management strategies of GM foods/crops have been satisfactorily ascertained by independent researchers.

I strongly urge you to maintain the moratorium until at least 2014.

Yours sincerely,

Council letter - Copy and send to your local MP. Edit with your own words.

Dear

I am writing as a resident of your council, to urge the council to ascertain its position on genetically modified (GM) crops and foods.

There is currently a moratorium against the commercial growing of GM crops in SA. However the moratorium does not have a defined timeframe.

GM crops pose health risks to people eating them and also to agricultural workers exposed to them.

GM crops are associated with an increased risk of herbicide resistant weeds and crop escapes. Overseas experience shows that they may make it necessary to use older, more toxic herbicides such as 2,4-D, to eradicate them. Therefore GM crops grown in council areas pose economic risks to councils, and health and safety risks to council employees.

I would strongly encourage you to ensure that the council keeps well informed on GM issues, and to write to the State Government to urge it to maintain the moratorium on growing GM crops until at least 2014.

Yours sincerely,

Hold Everything

2010-02-19T19:10:00.001-08:00

Some of us have been advised that the moratorium protecting South Australia from infliction of GM Foods is an "open ended" moratorium. This means that any date(s) associated with the moratorium may be invalid.

Please put on hold anything and everything that was tied to an end of the moratorium as a single fixed date.

From Plains to Plate Forum

2010-02-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

You are invited to attend the GM-free South Australia Forum

http://gm-freeaustralia.ning.com/events/gmfree-south-australia-forum

Monday February 8, 2010 from 6pm to 8:30pm
The Box Factory Community Centre
59 Regent Street South, Adelaide

Organized by GM-free Australia

Come along for an interesting, feature packed evening of speakers, workshops and GM-free nibblies.

Australia now has 28 GM-free council zones, is yours one of them?

Find out about the global GMO-free regions project that is making massive headway through Europe, (and the world! http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/) and find out how you can get involved and make your home, shop, school, college, business or council area a GM-free zone (http://www.geneethics.org/maps).

Meet organisers from CropWatch, GeneEthics Network, MADGE, Greenpeace, Truefood Network and more. Hear Dr Judy Carman speak about her 5-year research into the potential health effects of genetically manipulated foods. If you ever wanted to know more about the issue and how to keep GM out of our food and farms, come along and find the answers.

The forum is open to food, health, agriculture, education and local government groups that want a GM-free South Australia.

RSVP essential by February 4th to truefoodtrading@yahoo.com.au

Joel Catchlove

Friends of the Earth Adelaide
c/- Conservation Council of SA
Level 1, 157 Franklin Street, Adelaide SA 5000

phone: +61 8 8211 6872
mobile: 0435 631 524
email: joel.catchlove@foe.org.au
web: http://www.adelaide.foe.org.au/

Hard Evidence

2009-12-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

A group of leading doctors has warned the public to avoid genetically modified food and GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms). A revealing press release from this group of concerned physicians states

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) today released its position paper on Genetically Modified foods stating that "GM foods pose a serious health risk" and calling for a moratorium on GM foods.

The critical information here is largely taken with permission from an excellent article written by respected health researcher Jeffrey Smith on this key topic so vital to our health.

On May 19th 2009, the AAEM posted their landmark paper calling on physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks in addition to a moratorium on GM foods. These doctors also called for non-biased, long term independent studies, and labeling on all foods containing GM ingredients.

AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food" including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.

They conclude :

"There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects : There is causation." as defined by recognized scientific criteria.

"The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."

More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets :

Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist and board member of AAEM says "I strongly recommend patients eat strictly nongenetically modified foods."

Allergist Dr. John Boyles says "I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it."

Research has shown that pregnant women and babies are at particularly great risk. Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that "children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems" related to GM foods. He says without adequate studies, the children become "the experimental animals".

ANIMAL STUDIES

The experience of actual GM-fed experimental animals is scary. When GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks - compared to a 10 percent death rate among the control group fed natural soy. The GM fed babies were also smaller and later had problems getting pregnant. When male rats were fed GM soy, their testicles actually changed color - from the normal pink to dark blue. Mice fed GM soy also had altered young sperm.

GMO's are known to provoke immune reactions. AAEM states, "Multiple animal studies show significant immune dysregulation," including increase in cytokines, which are "associated with asthma, allergy, and inflammation" - all on the rise in the US. According to GM food safety expert Dr. Arpad Pusztai, changes in the immune status of GM animals are "a consistent feature of all the studies."

WARNINGS BY GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS IGNORED AND DENIED

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had warned about all these problems even in the early 1990's. According to documents released from a lawsuit, the scientific consensus at the agency was that GM Foods were inherently dangerous, and might create hard-to-detect allergies, poisons, gene transfer to gut bacteria, new diseases and nutritional problems. They urged their superiors to require rigorous long-term tests, but to no avail.

The White House instead ordered the agency to promote biotechnology. The FDA responded by recruiting Michael Taylor, former attorney of Monsanto - the largest GM food producer - to head up the formation of GMO policy. The wolf was hired to regulate the hen house. The policy developed under Taylor, which is in effect today, denies knowledge of scientists' concerns and declares that no safety studies on GMO's are required. It is left to Monsanto and the other biotech companies to determine if their foods are safe. Mr. Taylor later left the FDA to become Monsanto's vice president.

Read Mr. Taylor : Monsanto's Man in the Obama Administration by Isabella Kenfield

AAEM states, "GM foods have not been properly tested" and "pose a serious health risk." Not a single human clinical trial on GMO’s has been published. A 2007 review of published scientific literature on the "potential toxic effects/health risks of GM plants" revealed "that experimental data are very scarce" for human tests. The author concludes his review by asking, "Where is the scientific evidence showing that GM plants/food are toxicologically safe, as assumed by the biotechnology companies ?"

Famed Canadian geneticist David Suzuki answers, "The experiments simply haven't been done and we now have become the guinea pigs." He adds, "Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid or deliberately lying."

There is a pocket Non-GMO Shopping Guide, co-produced by the Institute for Responsible Technology and the Center for Food Safety, which is available as a download, as well as in natural food stores and in many doctors’ offices.

Download Pocket Guide

If even a small percentage of people choose non-GMO brands, the food industry will likely respond as they did in Europe - by removing all GM ingredients. Thus, AAEM's non-GMO prescription may be a watershed for the US food supply.

We also invite you comment below and let us know what you think. Can we join Europe in demanding the safety of our food supply and labeling of GM food?

From : Hard Evidence magazine, Sep-Oct 2009, Volume 9 Number 5 pages 15-16

Trust Organic Event

2009-11-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

As part of the Trust Organics Fortnight, SAGFIN held a public talk entitled,

‘Genetically Engineered Food: Is there any on your plate?’

at the Adelaide South West Community Centre on Saturday 10th October. It was followed by the SAGFIN AGM.

SAGFIN president Dr. Kate Clinch-Jones explained the science behind genetically engineered food crops and their impact on health and the environment. She identified GM foods that are approved for sale on the Australian market together with flaws in the approval process. Her talk was followed by questions from the informed but concerned audience.

Although we anticipated a larger attendance the contribution from those present was more than expected with all staying behind for the AGM. As a result we had fresh input to our meeting and offers of assistance with letter writing, logo design and investigating options for a new web page. We also acquired two new committee members, Roy Brown and Alex Hodges. Congratulations Roy and Alex.

Another outcome was the creation of two SAGFIN blog-pages which can be found at

http://sagfin.blogspot.com

and

http://sagfin.wordpress.com

Take a look and add your comments.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to a successful outcome for our meeting.

Farmers Market GM Debate

2009-10-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 11 October 2009, the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market hosted a GM Food debate between Professor Mark Tester of the Australian Centre for Plant functional Genomics and Dr. Judy Carman, Epidemiologist and Biochemist, and Director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research.

Professor Mark Tester described himself as being green and concerned about the environment. Whilst he did believe that some of the practices used in genetically modifying food crops were dubious - such as the practice of inserting genes from a soil bacterium into a plant - he envisioned GM crops as a means of feeding the world’s poor and solving agricultural problems. He believed that patented GM seeds would be accessible to Third World farmers in the future.

Dr Judy Carman’s presentation was, however, more detailed and specific. Rather than talk about what GM crops and foods hope to offer the world in the future, she focused on the GM foods that are currently on our supermarket shelves. She spoke about how our food regulator approves GM food on the basis of information supplied by the companies that apply for approval of their GM foods. Dr Carman outlined the gold standard of determining if something is safe to ingest, often used for pharmaceuticals, contrasting this with the inadequate testing procedures used by the companies that own the GM patents.

As an epidemiologist, Dr Carman explained why it is difficult to ascertain if the public health in countries such as the US - that have produced GM food for more than 10 years - have been impacted by the introduction of GM foods. GM food is largely untested on a rigorous and independent basis due to the legal difficulties in obtaining GM seed for research purposes.

Whether GM seed will ever be affordable and accessible to Third World farmers is yet to be seen. Dr Carman gave examples of how non-GM Canadian canola growers had been contaminated due to no fault of their own. Even unintentional GM contamination of crops results in a loss to the farmer due to the patent holder making claim to the GM component.

During question time it was obvious that the public’s concerns had not been quelled by Professor Tester. Professor Tester is a plant specialist and therefore may not have been able to address the public’s concerns as they were out of his range of expertise, whereas Dr. Carman’s knowledge in the fields of biochemistry and epidemiology and her experience in public health proved invaluable, and allowed her to cast light on possible environmental and health risks.

Towards the end of question time Professor Tester offered Dr. Carman the possible opportunity of conducting independent testing on the GM seeds that he is developing. If Professor Tester is true to his word, this is a great outcome.

AGM 10 October 2009

2009-10-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

SAGFIN (South Australia Genetic Food Information Network) held its annual general meeting at the Adelaide SouthWest Community Centre, 171 Sturt Street on Saturday 10 October 2009.

Dr. Kate Clinch Jones spoke about the potential health and environmental risks of GM crops and food.