April 2015 Genetically Modified News Roundup
Text and news compilation | Chen Ru-wei
The campaign to remove genetically modified ingredients from school lunches has entered its sixth month, and there has been further progress in all six special municipalities nationwide. After boxed-meal operators in New Taipei City followed in the footsteps of their counterparts in Taipei City by stating that they would raise prices by five yuan to offer fully non-GMO ingredients, boxed-meal operators in the two cities signed a memorandum of cooperation this month to ensure the supply of genuinely non-GMO ingredients through the establishment of a school food ingredient audit platform; Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan announced a "Safe Ingredients Every Day for School Lunch" policy, under which each person will receive a subsidy of five yuan per week starting in the new school year, with non-GMO ingredients used one day a week; Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung last month instructed that each person be subsidized five yuan per meal to encourage the use of non-GMO ingredients, but councilors discovered that this subsidy budget had not been allocated and it was sent back; the "School Lunch Goes Non-GMO" team visited the Kaohsiung City Government to learn about the current status of non-GMO lunches, and the Education Bureau said that 97 percent of schools already use non-GMO soy products and that it would move as quickly as possible to achieve the citywide non-GMO school goal.
In international news, the European Commission issued a new law allowing each member state to set its own import standards or restrictions for GM foods, which is seen as the first line of defense against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States. At the same time, however, it also approved 17 new authorizations for GM food and feed, drawing dissatisfaction from some countries and individuals. On another front, because the cancer research agency under the World Health Organization (WHO) listed glyphosate as "possibly carcinogenic" last month, calls for regulation began to emerge in various countries. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency softened its stance and said it might begin testing for herbicide residues, 30,000 medical professionals in Argentina signed a petition demanding a ban, and Nicaragua published a related carcinogenicity report.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan instructed that starting in the 104th academic year, the weekly supply of organic vegetables for school lunches in Taoyuan City be expanded from 2 days to "3 days of organic vegetables," "1 day of GAP-certified vegetables," and "1 day of non-genetically modified ingredients."
The boxed meal food commercial trade associations of Taipei and New Taipei respectively passed resolutions in March and April that as long as the price per meal rises by 5 yuan, they will fully provide non-GMO products. The two sides formally signed a memorandum of cooperation, under which the Corporate Synergy Development Center will review and audit the sources of non-GMO soybeans, and in the future a "School Food Ingredient Supply Management and Audit Center" will also be established.
In February this year, the Council of Agriculture announced that the field trial of the "gene clone papaya with dual resistance to papaya ringspot virus and papaya leaf-distortion mosaic virus" had not passed, which appears to mean that 20 years of research on GM papaya in Taiwan, China has come to an end.
Papaya is one of the few fruits cultivated in Hong Kong, China, and papaya trees can often be seen in front of and behind homes in the suburbs, mostly grown for personal consumption. According to statistics from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong, China, about 350,000 papaya trees are grown locally, but 60-70% are genetically modified, half of which are GM varieties from Taiwan, China, more than the legally imported Hawaiian GM papayas in Hong Kong, China.
FESPROSA, an organization in Argentina composed of 30,000 professional doctors and medical and health-related professionals, raised a demand to ban glyphosate. The statement said that the results published by IARC have finally given an opportunity for renewed scrutiny of the controversy raised by long-affected residents and scientists over glyphosate.
Lu Jung-chin, director of the Taiwan office of U.S. Wheat Associates, explained that the United States does not produce GM wheat, all wheat sold to Taiwan, China comes with non-GMO certification, and it is all No. 1 wheat. If consumers buy wheat imported from other countries, its source may very well still be U.S. wheat.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pointed out that the United States may begin testing food for residues of this herbicide. The U.S. government tests thousands of foods each year for pesticide residues, but the testing items do not include glyphosate, partly because glyphosate has long been considered very safe.
The number of schools in Kaohsiung City using completely non-GMO soybeans increased from 153 schools in the 103rd academic year to 252 schools in the 104th academic year; as of now, only 7 privately run and privately operated schools still use GM soybean products. The "School Lunch Food Ingredient Registration Platform (Group Meal System)" established and launched by the Education Bureau in September of the 103rd academic year has already required schools to indicate whether food is GM.
- Chang Gung University Professors Publish a "Soy Milk White Paper" to Convey Food Safety Knowledge(2015/4/21)
Hsu Ching-yun, director of the Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences at Chang Gung University, and Professor Liu Chen-fang jointly published a "Soy Milk White Paper" to provide knowledge about soy milk food safety and dispel mistaken rumors, such as emphasizing that packaged soy milk cannot contain preservatives because the high-temperature sterilization in the production process extends the shelf life, and that so-called insufficient bean flavor may be due to process improvements for taste and has no absolute relationship with nutrition.
- Going Against TTIP, the EU Allows Each Member State to Set Its Own Import Standards for GM Foods(2015/3/23)
On the 22nd, the European Commission issued a new law allowing each member state to set its own import standards or restrictions for GM foods. Because of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States, there has been considerable backlash among EU member states, with concerns that GM foods could cause food safety and health concerns, so this new law can be regarded as the first line of defense against TTIP.
During the Taichung City Council's review of the supplementary budget proposal, Councilor Li Chung questioned that the approximately 200 million yuan budget proposed by Mayor Lin Chia-lung to subsidize 5 yuan per person per meal starting in September this year to encourage the use of non-GMO ingredients had not been allocated, and demanded that it be returned for reallocation.
In a recent report, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) pointed out that the pesticide produced by Monsanto may be the cause of the deaths of 3,442 farmers in Nicaragua, that its products are destructive to the kidneys, and that they have caused the illness and death of thousands of farmers in Central America and Asia.