GMO and Health - Must Read !
by The Heat
team
PETALING JAYA: Without even realising it, Malaysians
have been consuming Frankenfoods – genetically modified (GM) food that is
derived from genetically engineered plants or animals.
According to Malaysian Biotechnology Information
Centre (Mabic) executive director Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan, almost 50% of our
poultry are fed with GM soya bean and corn.
“When I look at someone’s shopping cart, I think
almost half of it will have at least one GM ingredient. If we look at the
ingredients that come from soya beans and corn – corn flour, corn syrup, corn
starch, corn oil, [and] lecithin – these go into our cakes, our confectionery,”
says Mahaletchumy on a radio talk show to bring attention to the amount of GM
foods consumed by Malaysians.
How do Malaysians feel about eating genetically
modified organisms (GMO)? Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia researchers – in a
survey published in the Scientific World Journal last December – found that
Klang Valley residents were cautious towards GM foods and GM insulin despite
significant developments in modern biotechnology and GM foods.
If nothing is labelled, we won’t know if it is GM or
contains GM ingredients. The thing is, Malaysia has regulations that have been
amended to enforce GMO labelling under the Food Regulations 1985, amended in
2010 by the Ministry of Health (MOH). It was expected to be enforced in 2012,
but was delayed to July this year. But we have yet to see labels on our produce
or processed food.
Imports of GM foods or food containing GM ingredients,
however, fall under the National Biosafety Act 2007. If anyone wants to import
a GMO for placing on the market or to grow GMO in Malaysia, they have to go
through a risk assessment process to identify any risks and get government
approval.
According to the Consumer’s Association of Penang
(CAP), Malaysia had already approved four transgenic foods – Roundup Ready
soybean, MON 810 maize, MON 863 maize and NK 603 maize for use in food
(including ice-cream), feed and processing even before our biosafety law was in
place. Since the Biosafety Act 2007 was enforced, seven more GM foods (soybean
and maize) have been approved for use in food, feed and processing.
“The issue of the science around GMO is still heavily
contested,” says Lim Li Ching of the Third World Network (TWN) which does a lot
of work on Biosafety. “There are scientists who say ‘No problem, it’s all safe.
It has been out there for 20 years in the US and we don’t see any effects.’
There are other scientists who say ‘Look, the science is uncertain, and we need
to think about long term effects.’
“And you start to see this with some of the main crops
– herbicide-resistant GM crops and insect-resistant GM crops. What happens is
[weeds] evolve resistance as you keep spraying the herbicide and they
eventually become resistant to that herbicide, often requiring increased
sprayings for weed control and negating the claimed benefit.
“There are possible risks to human or animal health
which we don’t know enough about. There are many implications about herbicide
usage and their residues on food. Many crops are herbicide-resistant as they
use proprietary herbicides from the same [bio-technology] company. There are
many issues on intellectual property (IP) rights because many GM seeds used are
patented.
“There are also many questions about how much control
you should give corporations on our food supply. What are the implications for
it for many developing countries?”
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM),
a US-based international association of physicians, called for an immediate
moratorium on GM foods in 2009. GM foods, they say, pose a “serious health
risk”.
“There is more than a casual association between GM
foods and adverse health effects” and that “GM foods pose a serious health risk
in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health,
and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health”. Because of this, the AAEM
believes it is imperative to adopt the precautionary principle.
Restrictions or outright bans on the production of
GMOs exist in 40 countries worldwide – including Australia, Japan and the
European Union – because they are not considered as proven safe. In contrast,
United States law does not require labelling of products that contain GMOs. And
the US is the world’s largest producer of GM crops.
Since this is a highly controversial subject,
Malaysians have a right to know what they are buying and consuming, to be aware
of regulations on GMOs, and when this would be enforced. When there are delays
and awareness is low, enforcement could be delayed indefinitely.
What we can expect is that a product will not be
labelled when GMO content is less than 3% of the food ingredients although
there are exemptions. By contrast, New Zealand labels even when a product
contains less than 1% of GMO content.
At a seminar on legislation to regulate GMOs in 2011,
the then Deputy Director of Food Safety and Quality Division, Fauziah Arshad,
presented the Health Ministry’s reasons for wanting to impose labelling. They
include transparency, giving customers an informed choice, strengthening
efforts to position Malaysia as an international halal hub, traceability of GM
foods, information on possible health implications like allergic reactions,
preventing unauthorised or unapproved dumping of GM food into the country, and
shifting the burden to segregate GM and non-GM crops or products to exporting
countries.
Since Malaysia’s policy is to be a hub for halal food,
labelling would give our businesses an edge over other competitors. Fauziah
concluded that biotechnology is here to stay but consumers should be given the
right to make an informed decision. There will be a regulatory framework to
ensure the safety of GM food by pre-market approval. More importantly, ethical,
cultural and religious issues must be considered.
Malaysia was the first country to raise the issue of
GMOs and biosafety at the Earth Summit in 1992 which led to the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety, the only international treaty specifically regulating
GMOs.
This is all well and good but when will enforcement of
labelling start? Questions were posed to MOH on the expected enforcement date,
reasons for delay and the risk assessment process in mid-July. They remain
unanswered as at press time.
With about 28 countries in the world currently growing
GM crops, our food imports are an entry point for GM foods especially when we
are not self-sufficient in rice, fruits, vegetables, beef, mutton or dairy
milk.
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