Veganwolf.com
US prepares to block influx of GE food
Very interesting...irony,
hypocrisy and deception are all around this one...
The New Scientist
January 25, 2009
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126923.300-us-prepares-to-block-influx-of-gm-food.html
US
prepares to block influx of GM food
AFTER a decade of exporting its
genetically modified crops all over
the world, the US is preparing to block
foreign GM foods from
entering the country - if they are deemed to threaten
its
agriculture, environment or citizens' health, that is.
The
warning was given to the US Department of Agriculture, which
polices
agricultural imports, by its own auditor, the Office of
Inspector General
(OIG): "Unless international developments in
transgenic plants and animals
are closely monitored, USDA could be
unaware of potential threats that
particular new transgenic plants or
animals might pose to the nation's food
supply."
The OIG expects the number of GM crops and traits, and the
number of
countries producing them, to double by 2015, raising the risks of
imports of GM crops unknown to the USDA.
The report urges the USDA to
strengthen its links with countries
where research is exploding, such as
China, India and Brazil. China,
for example, is ready to launch the world's
first commercial GM rice,
but it has yet to be approved by the USDA.
Problems will arise, says
the OIG, when new GM products enter the US
undeclared - the USDA
would be unprepared to test or even identify
them.
The OIG cautions against blocks on imports that could be seen as
trade barriers, however. In 2006, the World Trade Organization ruled
in
favour of the US, arguing that the European Union's stringent
regulations on
GM crops were anti-free trade.
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