Lax Oversight Found in Tests of Gene-Altered Crops

[bettyellen]

Lax Oversight Found in Tests of Gene-Altered Crops
NT Times
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: January 3, 2006


"The report, issued late last month by the department's Office of Inspector General, found that biotechnology regulators did not always notice violations of their own rules, did not inspect planting sites when they should have and did not assure that the genetically engineered crops were destroyed when the field trial was done. In many cases, the report said, regulators did not even know the locations of field trials for which they granted permits.

....snip....

In addition, the critics say, there could be harm to public health if a crop genetically engineered to produce a pharmaceutical or industrial chemical, for instance, accidentally found its way into the food supply.

...snip...

One of the most controversial areas of agricultural biotechnology involves genetically engineering crops to produce pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals. The Agriculture Department has stricter requirements for those crops than for genetically modified crops meant for food or animal feed.
However, the new report said the department often failed to enforce those stricter requirements. In most cases the auditors checked, the sites were not inspected five times each during field tests, as the department had promised. Nor were they inspected twice after the trial to make sure the crop was destroyed and the field fallow.
The report said that in two cases large harvests of pharmaceutical crops remained in storage for more than a year after the field test ended with regulators' not knowing of the storage facility or approving it."

more.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/science/03crop.html

[acmavm]

1. So much for Monsanto's assurances about Frankenfood. Not that I

really thought that there was too much truth in what they said anyway.

Someday we will be sorry for letting the government force this shit on the farmers in this country. British farmers were right to fight it.

[bettyellen]

2. i'm hoping all those approved grains are just animal feed....

but i'm sure they are going to try this with all crops, and i'm sure they know bush will push so they wouldn't have to label them. if they labeled this crap, no one would buy it.
they can't keep a lid on pollen for fuck's sake, it's crazy to think they ever could.