[Vision2020] Avoiding Frankenfoods? Shop in Moscow.

[Mark Solomon]

Andreas,

What I'm objecting to is the absolute lack of a meaningful public 
forum for discussing these private products before they are released 
into the environment. Unintended consequences and all that. The cold 
reality is that most, if not all, the GE that is occurring is being 
driven by a profit motive not a public interest incentive. I don't 
trust the stock market to look after anything but itself. Between 
Roundup Ready Corn, Roundup Ready Soybeans, Roundup Ready Cotton and 
Roundup Ready Alfalfa the large majority of the entire country's ag 
land is now a super-weed production experiment.

m.

At 2:20 PM -0700 6/25/07, Andreas Schou wrote:
>Mark --
>
>What you're objecting to is the evolution of weed species, driven by
>increased resistance in food species. This bears the same relationship
>to genetic engineering that drug resistance in bacteria does to
>antibiotics.
>
>I don't strictly support genetic modification of this sort (GM to
>increase chemical use is, IMHO, a bad idea), but other modifications
>-- like BT-modified corn -- do not have the same problems that this
>particular modification does.
>
>-- ACS
>
>On 6/25/07, Mark Solomon <msolomon at moscow.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>Roger,
>>
>>
>>It's not that simple. Here's a link to the last issue of High Country News
>>and their article on Roundup Ready alfalfa. Story is based in Nampa. In a
>>nutshell, making crops Roundup tolerant by genetic engineering is creating
>>Roundup tolerant weeds as they adapt to the new Roundup-rich environment and
>>threatening an entire crop whether you are using Monsanto seeds or not.
>>
>>http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17054
>>
>>
>>Evolution is a multi-faceted process with species adapting to how other
>>species interact with them. No species exists in an evolutionary isolation
>>bubble.
>>
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>
>>At 11:15 AM -0700 6/25/07, lfalen wrote:
>>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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