2004 articles

Prof Jennifer Thompson has been telling Australian farmers and others that GM crops are stringently tested for health risks. "These GM crops have been tested rigorously, almost as if they were toxins, and no conventional food has ever been tested like that," Thompson is quoted as saying (item 1).

Yet a study by Professor Ian Pryme and Rolf Lembcke (item 2), published in 2003 in the journal Nutrition and Health, found there were just ten published studies on the health effects of GM food or feed and that the quality of some of these was inadequate. The researchers also noted that several of the independent studies provided evidence of potential harm.

Prof Thompson, on the other hand, says she is so certain that those GM crops that have been approved for commercial release are as safe or are even "far safer" than non-GM food, that she would be willing to put her "head on a block" over the issue.

A leading expert in the field of GM food testing told us, "I don't think that her head on the block would be worth having as there is nothing in it."

What is so shocking about Jennifer Thompson's detachment from scientific reality is that we are not dealing with just some biotech lobbyist. Thompson has been a key figure - probably, the key figure - in shaping South Africa's regulation of GM crops since its first regulatory body SAGENE, which Thompson chaired, was established under South Africa's apartheid regime.

Thompson is still an official advisor on regulatory decisions today. At one and the same time she's a leading figure in a whole series of biotech-industry backed lobby groups, eg AfricaBio, ISAAA, the Council for Biotechnology Information and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation.
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170

No wonder South Africa has had such a rapid uptake of GM crops when the line between lobbyist and regulator is non-existent.

1.Farmers told growing GM food 'safe'
2.Study shows lack of research into GM health effects
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1.Farmers told growing GM food 'safe'
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Tuesday, 17 August 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/news/200408/s1178482.htm

[image caption: Farmers encouraged to plant genetically modified crops. (File photo) ABC TV]

A South African expert on genetically modified (GM) food says Australian farmers should not be afraid of growing the crops.

A professor of microbiology at the University of Cape Town, Jennifer Thompson, has addressed the International Entomology Congress being held in Brisbane.

Ms Thompson says small scale farmers in South Africa are planting GM insect resistant cotton and maize, which she believes could also be grown here.

She says GM crops are stringently tested for health risks.

"These GM crops have been tested rigorously, almost as if they were toxins, and no conventional food has ever been tested like that," she said.

"I would put my head on a block and say that these foods, the ones that have been passed for commercial release, are far safer in many cases than ones that are conventionally bred and might have high levels of pesticides."

Professor Thompson says small farmers in South Africa are planting insect-resistant cotton and maize. She believes many sites in Australia would also be suitable.

"If I was farmers here, I would say absolutely yes," she said. "The results are quite astonishing in many countries and, not only for developing countries but also for first world countries and commercial farmers."
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2.Study shows lack of research into GM health effects
Medical News Today, 24 Jun 2004
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=9876

A study by scientists in Norway and Denmark shows a serious lack of published research into the health effects of GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

The study by Professor Ian Pryme and Rolf Lembcke was published in the journal Nutrition and Health earlier this year (2003). It says that there have only been ten published studies of the health effects of GM food or feed. The researchers found that the quality of some of these was inadequate.

Over half were undertaken in collaboration with companies (fully or partially), and these found no negative effects on body organs. The other studies were independent and looked more closely at the effects on the gut lining. Several of these found potentially negative changes which have not been explained.

As we know, similar effects on the gut lining were found in the unpublished animal feeding study on the Flavr Savr tomato. Also unpublished is the human feeding trial by Newcastle University which found that transgenes transfer out of GM food into gut bacteria at detectable levels after only one GM meal.

The biotechnology companies often refer to some 100 animal feeding studies as proof of safety. However, these were designed to test the commercial value of the animal feed, not safety. Furthermore, many of these studies were duplicates and not all were published.

To continue reading this study please go to this web page of the Soil Association, UK http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/0/80256cad0046ee0c80256d66005ae0fe?OpenDocument