Are you concerned about genetically modified food?

I think it is now 5 years ago I suggested to the people living in my area that as part of the tourism programme we should provide a village that is a cooperative in producing organic food and food products. I was told to shut up and was not heard even though the Blue Mountains as a tourist destination needs an impetus to be appreciated.

I suggested that a Zoo be set up at Lawson and a programme for my neighbours at Bullaburra to grow plums and that Bullaburra should become the Plum of the Mountain with my neighbours developing skills in providing not only the plums but also plum and chestnut products home made. If this is to become a reality as I hope it will one day then for the Council to accept genetically modified foods is a contradiction in terms and one that in my view detracts from the natural beauty and the heritage listing that the Mountains have.

GM products are produced with profit in mind by large multi-national companies. They have the potential to reduce biodiversity and encourage food producers into contracts that make them beholden to the company for their livelihoods. Instead of addressing the issues related to wasteful and environmentally unsound food production practices GM foods attempt to seduce people into thinking they can continue with their current practices. As an organic home food producer and a purchaser of organically grown foods I do not wish to see organic produce polluted by rogue GM foods that don't know one garden or paddock from another.

As a Cittaslow (slow food) city, why not continue the emphasis on locally grown, fresh food by banning GMs in the mountains? It only seems logical.

I have several concerns about GM food. The biggest one being why we cannot have labeling so that we can choose to avoid GM food.

In my view, that we are denied this information disqualifies any argument in favour of GM food. I even think that it implies conspiracy and subversion.

I suspect that the profit makers involved realise that food labeled as GM would be avoided. In my case they are certainly right.

I think the majority of people move to the Mountains because of the fact it is surrounded by natural beauty. The communities tend to support Bushcare, Food Co-Op, Environment Days, Slow Food Group etc.

We should be looking to set up community gardens using native and exotic foods grown organically.

We should not bow down to Multinational and Government failures to allow GM products of any type. We refuse to understand what it means to care for a unique land and then we change things to make it worse.

I'm totally against GM foods.

SENT TO ADMINISTRATOR BY A KATOOMBA RESIDENT

Considering that food is our basic need and requirement for health I do not see GM foodstuffs serving that aim.

Therefore I WANT to know when food has been genetically modified. I will not, for instance eat any product that is contaminated with Canola oil or packaged without the message GM FREE.

Since WW2 we have had food increasingly contaminated by pesticides and an enormous increase in food allergies. But even worse is now occurring. Alzheimers is on the increase and no one knows why. An expert from the John Hopkins Institute in the USA said (National Press Club) that by the mid century there will be five times the population of Australia with Alzheimers and that the condition had nothing to do with aging.

We know nothing about the long term effects of GM. Can we afford to be so stupid as to contaminate our land/food with something that cannot be retrieved?

It is greed that is behind the creation of GM crops and ruthless companies such as Monsanto, the creator of terminator seeds, (a monstrous act of wickedness, considering the abundance of nature). Indian farmers committed suicide over them.

In Chinese medicine it is the nature of food that is important, not its components. Sticking fish genes in tomatoes alters the nature of the tomato and no one knows the long term effects of any of these interferences.

We only get one chance!

GM is a very dangerous process and I am interested in any initiative any council executes to help make sure that GM are products are either banned or VERY clearly marked on all products - not just food products

S Peters

Blackheath

Genetic modification has been around for centuries, food crops and animals have been altered through selective breeding. While genes can be transferred during selective breeding, the scope for exchanging genetic material is much wider using genetic engineering. In theory, genetic engineering allows genetic material to be transferred between any organism, including between plants and animals. For example, the gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas has been inserted into a strawberry, allowing the fruit to be frost-tolerant.

As the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places

Since December 2002, the law in Australia states that food labels must show if food has been genetically modified or contains genetically modified ingredients, or whether GM additives or processing aids remain in the final food.

All genetically modified foods intended for sale in Australia and New Zealand must undergo a safety evaluation by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), an independent government agency.   FSANZ will not approve a GM food unless it is safe to eat.  

From the World Health Organisation

GM foods currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved. Continuous use of risk assessments based on the Codex principles and, where appropriate, including post market monitoring, should form the basis for evaluating the safety of GM foods.

Readers should note that by supporting a precautionary approach to GM Food Production in the Blue Mountains LGA they are supporting Council’s proposal to give preference to GM free foods and ingredients in all Council’s food services (see Council Report - 8 September 2009) . That is, food items available in kiosks at swimming pools , leisure centres , Council organized social functions , weekly senior citizens’ lunches etc.will have to be GM free.

This proposal means that the cost of food items must increase and the increases will be appreciable .

It should also be noted that the implementation of the GM free foods proposal is going to involve significant council officer time and financial resources ( ratepayers’ money ). In this context , council officers will have to spend time etc. briefing and supervising their commercial suppliers of foods on the rules and regulation . Again, to ensure implementation, they will need to have food samples analysed for DNA content – an expensive exercise !

Readers should also note that Council fails in its reports to give an estimate of the costs to ratepayers that will result if the precautionary approach is adopted .

It is also relevant that with this approach , culinary oils ( canola, cottonseed , soya ) used in the food preparation must be the expensive non- GM forms . This is, of course, just absurd ! The GM oil forms (much cheaper), like their non GM counterparts contain no genetic material. To show preference for the latter would be a complete waste of ratepayers’ money.

Council officers are already have more than enough work to handle and the City finances are in bad shape . The officers don’t need the additional burden from this GM free food business whilst the ratepayers and other users of our food services don’t need the additional costs that will result .

It would appear that this proposed precautionary approach to GM Food Production represents, re.Council foods , a bad investment of ratepayers’ money and should not be supported. No health benefit can be expected to accrue and more and more studies confirm that the GM technology is at least as good at producing “safe” foods as the conventional plant breeding techniques.

Listen up ‘ss49’ and ‘Cyril’: Most of us recognise that GM poses serious concerns for sustainable agricultural practices and for human health for generations to come. To argue in favour of GM crops based upon cost is false economy in the final outcome for public health. Due to the unknown consequences for human reproduction and the effects upon the unborn child, GM products should be banned. Concerns have been raised that GM causes liver toxicity in rats; whether GM causes liver toxicity or not ... would anyone want to take such a chance? We only have ONE liver. As to the costs of avoiding GM products: Monsanto should meet any financial outlays related to GM. Why should Councils or communities suffer the burden of scrutiny required? This company has imposed these GM products that are so unwelcome in the community. Stay away from playing roulette with the health of the community ... we want clean, GM-free food!

According to ‘ss49’ and ‘Cyril’, we should all be happy about exposure to the risks of GM agriculture. GM approved crops, including GM white clover and glyphosate-tolerant cotton, pose a far greater risk than the public may be aware of: that of INCREASED GLOBAL FOOD SHORTAGES.

Bees are responsible for pollination of crops and account for an expected 40% yield advantage to agriculture. Already, there are concerns for introduced disease by aparists and farmers in Australia. Almond farms in USA are badly affected by reduced bee populations. Because an effect of GM is to lower immunity, this may be responsible for crippling the apiarist industry overseas, where critically reduced bee populations are devastated by disease.

Facts from ‘True Food Guide’ (ed. May, 2002) and GeneEthics info sheet:

• The ‘butterfly effect’ of GM pollination: Pollen from GM corn has been indicated as lethal to the larvae of the Monarch butterfly. (p4.)

• Contaminated GM affects food consumption in various ways: as a direct source and as hidden ingredients in unlabelled processed foods and from unlabelled secondary sources in the food chain, ingested as food products from animals fed on GM grains or from honey. (p5.) Consumers have a right to know what we eat!

• In Australia, the four main GM ingredients are: imported canola, corn, soy, and from local and imported cottonseed products. (p6.)

• Valid international concerns raised are that antibiotic-resistant genes in disease resistant GM plants may lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in us. (p4.)

• In a lab experiment GM soybeans inserted with a brazil nut gene were found to have the potential to cause reactions in people allergic to nuts. (p4.)

• A CSIRO project developed over a ten year period on insecticide-tolerant GM peas was found to be unsafe and abandoned. (GeneEthics info sheet.)

Chrissie - GM technology is at least as good at producing “safe” foods as the conventional plant breeding techniques. This is the conclusion of the Health Regulatory bodies in Australia ,New Zealand, the UK , Canada , the USA, Japan , the EU etc. This conclusion is based on assessments by scientific groups , independent of Monsanto and other multinationals . I fully accept this conclusion with respect to the GM crops etc. that have been approved , as would thousands of others in this city .

Scaremongering is rife at present by those outfits pushing a particular ideology or wanting to hold or increase their food market share . What you have obtained from them and listed here is mainly just plain wrong or misleading . For example , it has been found that bee colony collapse disease is not caused by GM crops , the increase in allergy incidence in the last decade is not caused by GM crops, GM foods don’t cause liver toxicity - animals have been given GM foods for up to 11 generations without having liver damage or other health problems, the Monarch butterfly is still plentiful and is not declining in numbers , and so on .

Consumers who won’t accept the Health Regulatory bodies recommendations on safety certainly should have the opportunity to select GM free foods but they should bear the extra cost involved in making this so . They are in the same position as the thousands of us with coeliac disease, who must select gluten free foods . Coeliacs don’t ask that all foods be labelled with their gluten content – food processors prepare and label gluten free products for them . GM free food people cannot fairly ask for all foods to have a GM status tag on them - we don’t want to have to bear the cost of this labelling. If there is a significant demand for GM free foods then enterprising food processors will prepare and label GM free products for people to select and those people not the whole community will bear the costs involved .

We have to look at the facts not the what ifs.

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of diabetics have been saved by taking insulin over the last 40 years. Insulin is made through Genetic Engineering.

Most of our antibiotics, hormones and many other medications are made through genetic engineering.

Nearly 75% of food that we eat already contains genetically modified products.

The United States regulatory authorities refuse to label GM foods, as there is no known health risk.

The World Health Organisation say there is no known health risks.

What more proof is needed that Gm foods are safe?

One third of the world’s potato crop used to fail because of the Colorado potato beetle, a beetle that has developed resistance to all major insecticide classes, resulting in more dangerous toxins being used. Genetic engineering is eliminating this problem.

Good on ya, council. This is an important cause requiring urgent action. Wish you every success, It looks like being much harder to pull off than declaring a nuke-free zone in the Inner West, but if you prove it can be done hopefully other governments in Australia will follow your lead and start giving this land and its people the care and respect they deserve.

A ray of hope; a city council akin to David versus Goliath. I hope other councils will follow suit and see the international benefits of being able to market GM free products. I personally am very cautious about GM food; the potential effects on other food crops, the potential for a minority to control our food supply, the long term &/or subtle health effects (we just DON'T know yet) and a general wariness of vested interests and greed. Being denied the basic right to decide whether or not to consume GM foods (labelling) and the potential for my home grown crops to be contaminated and then to be possibly charged for it; just adds insult to injury.

Ruth Renderly – you may be right about how the USDA assesses proposed applications of GM technology but I doubt it . You are completely wrong if you think that particular assessment approach is used by Australian Health Regulators . Our regulators demand to see all of the original data obtained in tests and not just the tester’s conclusions . Moreover , the tests have to be done by research groups that are independent of the applicant . Again there have been just loads of independent studies of GM foods etc. -- more than 200 published peer reviewed scientific papers . Surely , our Australian health people are worthy of better than considering them unwilling to assess in the best interests of the nation.

The misinformation about GM food testing is just part of the scaremongering about GM that various groups employ to comply with their own ideologies or market needs.

Bob Phelps -- I presume you are the Bob Phelps of the so-called Gene Ethics Network , which despite its name is just an anti–GM body , and it is possible that you are not one of our city citizens and are peddling the usual network line . Perhaps it is time for you to take on board the fact that no informed and thinking individual ever considered that GM crops would ‘feed the world’. The GM technology is just another tool that is available to help in providing food in the future -- world population to increase by some 2.6 billion by yr 2050 . It is time your network realized that, and moved on from its notion that GM technology is just "a tool of the Devil” .