[Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods? Shop in Moscow.

Mon Jun 25 11:27:22 PDT 2007

Considerable
-----Original message-----
From: "Kai Eiselein, editor" editor at lataheagle.com
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:21:52 -0700
To: "lfalen" lfalen at turbonet.com,  "Bill London" london at moscow.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods?  Shop in Moscow.

> 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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