www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The European Commission approved a range of GM foods and crops despite
having serious doubts over their health and environmental impacts, according
to new documents released by green charities, April 2006.

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said the documents revealed scientific
arguments put forward behind closed doors in the European Commission's
recent GM trade dispute.

The groups have called for the immediate suspension in the use and sale of
all GM foods and crops until the safety issues have been addressed.

In the documents, the Commission argues that there were "large areas of
uncertainty about the health risks posed by GM produce," and that "some
issues have not yet been studied at all."

The papers also say "there simply is no way of ascertaining whether the
introduction of GM products has had any other effect on human health," and
"no unique, absolute, scientific cut off threshold available to decide
whether a GM product is safe or not."

Among other revelations, the documents suggested ther were huge
disagreements between the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority,
the agency that is responsible for GM risk assessments.

At the same time as the Commission wrote and submitted these documents to
the World Trade Organisation highlighting safety concerns it approved seven
GM foods, despite a lack of support from the majority of EC member states.

Clare Oxborrow, a Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner, said: "This is a
political scandal. The European Commission must call a halt to the sale and
growth of all genetically modified food and crops given the serious concerns
over their safety that have come to light.

"When the EU Commission broke the moratorium and forced GM foods into
Europe, it told the public they were safe. But the Commission clearly knew
this was not the case and was prepared to recognise the risk behind closed
doors. The UK Government must now reveal whether it had access to these
documents and whether it voted in support of GM foods while knowing the
risks they posed."

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

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