By Melanie Peters
In the week that local American biotechnology giant Monsanto was ordered
to withdraw "unsubstantiated" information about the safety of
genetically modified foods, new research has cast further doubt on how
these products are approved for sale and consumption.
This is according to a statement released by environmental watchdog
organisation, Biowatch, on Friday.

South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority on Monday ordered
Monsanto SA to withdraw its advert which appeared in You magazine.

In a full-page magazine advert entitled "Biotechnology - the true
facts", the company sought to reassure South African consumers that it
was safe to eat all genetically modified food products, and that they
were even safer and more nutritious than natural food.

However, the truth of the advertisement was challenged by Mark Wells of
East London, who lodged a complaint of misleading or false advertising
with the advertising body.

The company was then asked to provide substantiating evidence from an
independent and credible expert for its claims, which it was unable to
do.

It was then ordered to withdraw or amend the advert immediately and that
the claim that "no negative reactions have ever been reported" should
not be used again, unless substantiated.

Director of Biowatch Leslie Liddell said a study conducted by French
scientific research institute CRIIGEN on a Monsanto maize variety -
which South Africa approved in 2002 - shows that rats fed the GM maize
and those fed conventional maize differed in brain, kidney, heart and
liver measurements and had significant weight differences.

[www.int.iol.co.za]