[Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods? Shop in Moscow.

[Kai Eiselein, editor]

How many modern drugs are "bio-engineered"?  But people don't seem to scream 
about them.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "lfalen" <lfalen at turbonet.com>
To: "Bill London" <london at moscow.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods? Shop in Moscow.


> The concept of Frankenfoods is anti-science and anti-progress. Genetic 
> engineering is no different than selective breeding. It just speeds uo the 
> process. Genetic engineering is a great tool that is used to improve 
> products and increase productivity. There is no danger from these 
> products. Every new improvement has been opposed by unfounded fears. 
> X-rays, irradiation of food, you name it. The biggest danger, may be  all 
> the additives and/ingredients that are in most processed foods to   eople 
> with various food allergies( Soy etc). This can be handled by reading the 
> labels.
>
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: "Bill London" london at moscow.com
> Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:48:44 -0700
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods?  Shop in Moscow.
>
>> OK.  So, this is an article about the Moscow in Russia....but it's still 
>> interesting...BL
>>
>>   Want to be sure it's GM-free? Buy food in Moscow
>>   By James Kilner
>>   Reuters
>>   Posted: 2007-06-24 19:17:07
>>   MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow next week introduces a city-wide label to 
>> identify GM-free foods, a move ecologists hail as ground-breaking but 
>> which foreign producers say is complex and costly.
>>
>>   A handful of individual food producers around the world already use 
>> labels certifying their food is free of genetically modified elements --  
>> but this is the first large-scale political effort to introduce such a 
>> system, Greenpeace says, expecting it to be watched by others as a 
>> test-case.
>>
>>   "These labels are important for consumers so they know which companies 
>> keep a tight control on ingredients in their products," Greenpeace's GM 
>> researcher in Russia, Natalia Olefirenko, said.
>>
>>   After an official -- voluntary -- inspection producers will have the 
>> right to carry Moscow's GM-free label for a year.
>>
>>   The European Union  already insists products which contain more than 
>> 0.9 percent of GM-enhanced ingredients must say so on the packet, but 
>> environmentalists argue that does not go far enough.
>>
>>   "It's very important for the rest of the world to watch Moscow," 
>> Olefirenko said.
>>
>>   Greenpeace estimates around 80 percent of Russian produce contains no 
>> genetically enhanced ingredients, in line with other developing 
>> countries, against only about 20 percent in the EU and richer countries.
>>
>>   But Greenpeace said parts of the EU could follow Moscow's lead if it is 
>> a success, although the label should remain voluntary.
>>
>>   Foreign food producers say that is just one of the problems the label 
>> brings.
>>
>>   Supermarkets eager to curry favour with Moscow's government have hinted 
>> they will only stock products carrying the GM-free label -- and signals 
>> from the authorities suggest the label will effectively be obligatory, 
>> producer lobby groups say.
>>
>>   "And it's all extra costs," said Alexei Popovichev, head of Rusbrand 
>> which represents big Western producers such as Nestle and Kraft. "It 
>> involves special testing, special packaging and the costs will be passed 
>> on to the consumer."
>>
>>   Small domestic producers will probably feel the burden of the extra 
>> costs hardest as they will not be able to spread them through economies 
>> of scale, he said.
>>
>>   Western businesses also argue the GM-free label could mislead customers 
>> into buying poorer products because the assertion that foods contain no 
>> GM-ingredients could be misread as a signal that all the ingredients are 
>> of high-quality.
>>
>>   ARGENTINIAN APPLES
>>
>>   Greenpeace does warn there is a potential flaw in the Moscow GM label, 
>> saying the testing system chosen by Moscow is untried even though it says 
>> over $2 million has already been spent buying equipment for laboratories 
>> owned by a Moscow businessman.
>>
>>   The project, an initiative of Moscow's 70-year-old Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, 
>> comes to a city where ecological concerns are not typically high: traffic 
>> chokes Moscow's roads, residents throw out rubbish with scant regard for 
>> recycling and the centrally controlled heating grinds out warmth during 
>> even the mildest winter.
>>
>>   Russia lags behind in the growing multi-million-dollar organic food 
>> industry -- Moscow has just one self-styled organic supermarket.
>>
>>   Called Grunwald, it is tucked away under an 18-storey concrete 
>> apartment block in a leafy, green suburb 30 minutes west by metro from 
>> the centre of Moscow.
>>
>>   Foreigners and wealthy Russians who live in nearby gated communities 
>> and dachas form the bulk of the customers, Marina Goldinberg, the 
>> supermarket's marketing manager, said.
>>
>>   All the products in the store -- and everything is foreign -- have been 
>> certified to be GM-free.
>>
>>   On a weekday mid-afternoon visit the handful of middle-aged women 
>> browsing the displays wore designer sunglasses on their heads and the 
>> latest fashion from London and Paris.
>>
>>   They inspected GM-free apples from Argentina, which cost around $12.50 
>> per kg, and wild salmon from Sweden at $80 per kg.
>>
>>   "When this new law comes in we will stock locally grown and produced 
>> food, prices will drop and more and more people will shop here," 
>> Goldinberg said.
>>
>>   And Dmitri Yanin, head of Russian consumer group KonFOP, said research 
>> appears to suggest GM-free produce is not a priority for most Russians.
>>
>>   He said research last year showed 60 percent of food buyers in Russia 
>> said price was the most important factor in choosing what to buy. Just 
>> over 5 percent picked ingredients.
>>
>>
>>   Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or 
>> redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, 
>> is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. 
>> Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or 
>> for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
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