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- From the Natural Law Party, UK, Wessex
Branch
- Please see the ABC News article
below.
-
- If this kind of thing is cropping up with research on normal
soya which requires no special testing for release onto the market,
how come the allegedly thorough testing with GM varieties has
not shown any similar adverse effects on animal and human health?
This raises the question: "Is the right kind of testing on
GM soy being done, or are the testing methods used not suited
for picking up health effects?"
-
- The adverse effects from normal soy should be showing up in
GM soy as well if GM soy is really "substantially equivalent"
to normal soy as claimed by food safety regulators around the
world. Because the GM testing appears not be successfully
identifying these known problems, this situation would appear
to be further evidence that GM soya has only been subject to superficial
testing. If so what additional effects created by the genetic
modification have also gone undetected?
-
- This situation is especially significant because outstanding
questions concerning the safety of normal soy appear to be arising
even from within the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) itself.
According to the ABC News report below, soy safety questions from
recent research have arisen in relation to a number of health
problems including breast cancer in women, brain function in men,
and developmental abnormalities in children. According to the
FDA scientists concerned: "There exists a significant body
of animal data that demonstrates goitrogenic and even carcinogenic
effects of soy products." And much more....(see their letter
to their own employer, the FDA, posted at the end of the first
ABC article which includes a full exposition and a long list of
published scientific papers). No wonder no Government wants
to do proper toxicity testing on GM soy. It could upset the whole
soy multi-billion dollar apple cart, both GM and non-GM.
-
- For more information on the lack of safety testing on GM soy
see: "Where is the safety testing of GM soya?" http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/soyarefs.html
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- In the light of this evidence is it a true scientific statement
to say: "There are no adverse health effects from GM soya"...?
Certainly these scientists from the FDA have not been willing
to make such a statement in respect of normal soya - in fact they
have clearly said something very contrary. It seems apparent that
much of the detailed testing which has now been done on normal
soy (with negative results) has not been done on GM soy, and that
therefore the GM testing is not worth the paper it is written
on. To make matters worse it is now legal in the US to label
any kind of soy (GM or otherwise) as beneficial for reducing heart
disease risk (see ABC story below), but illegal to label it as
genetically modified. God Bless America - land of the "fee".
The new labelling arrangements follow a petition submitted to
the FDA by the American Soybean Association (ASA), whose corporate
partners include the following biotechnology/agro-chemical companies
- American Cyanamid, Bayer, Dow, Du Pont, Monsanto, Novartis and
Zeneca ( http://www.oilseeds.org/partners.htm
).
-
- According to ASA President Mike Yost: "With this one change
we couldn't have asked for a more favorable decision by FDA, one
that will benefit U.S. and world consumers as well as U.S. soybean
producers." (ASA News Release November 16, 1998 following
the initial FDA approval.) By contrast, in submitting its comments
to the FDA on the new health-claim labelling arrangements for
all soy the American Dietetic Association (ADA) warned: "ADA
assumes that both FDA and PTI have looked extensively at the literature
regarding potential safety concerns such as allergenic reactions
and possible toxicological effects of soy. While we recognize
that there is limited research in this area, we urge FDA to consider
any safety and toxicological issues prior to finalizing this rule."
http://www.eatright.org/gov/lg012599.html.
-
- In the light of the warnings made by its own scientific experts
here are six questions that it would now be interesting for attorneys
and barristers to ask the FDA and other government regulators
in courts of law around the world:
-
- 1) "What is your understanding of the term 'the precautionary
principle'?"
- 2) "Are there any harmful health effects from non-genetically
modified soy postulated or demonstrated as a result of experiments
published in the scientific literature?"
- 3) "Have all such experiments on the health effects of
non-genetically modified soy also been carried out in relation
to genetically modified soy?"
- 4) "Is genetically modified soy 'substantially equivalent'
to non-genetically modified soy?"
- 5) "If you consider there to be equivalence, does that
mean that any scientific findings on the health effects of non-genetically
modified soy would also be applicable to genetically modified
soy?"
- 6) "On the basis of your answers to the previous questions,
and any other scientific evidence that you are aware of, are you
able to confirm that there are no harmful health effects from
genetically modified soy?"
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- For more information on health research on soy, see: Soy Online
Service : Uncovering the truth about soy:http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/
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- NATURAL LAW PARTY, WESSEX, U.K.:
- nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
- www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
-
- http://abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020_000609_soy_feature.html
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