Statements by Scientists on the Dangers of Genetically Engineered Food

* Professor Richard Lacey, microbiologist, medical doctor, and
Professor of Food Safety at Leeds University has become one of the
best-known figures of food science since his prediction of the BSE (mad
cow disease) crisis about ten years ago. Recently Professor
Lacey has spoken out strongly against the introduction of genetically
engineered foods, because of 'the essentially unlimited health risks' _
"The fact is, it is virtually impossible to even conceive of a testing
procedure to assess the health effects of genetically engineered foods
when introduced into the food chain, nor is there any valid nutritional or
public interest reason for their introduction."


* Dr Andrew Chesson, vice chairman of European Commission scientific committee on animal nutrition. Since long before this statement he has been known as an advocate for food biotechnology. 
"Potentially disastrous effects may come from undetected harmful substances in Genetically Modified Foods." (Daily Mail, UK, 13 Sept 1999).

* Professor Mae Wan-Ho, of the UK Open University Department of
Biology says, "Genetic engineering bypasses conventional breeding by using
artificially constructed parasitic genetic elements, including viruses, as
vectors to carry and smuggle genes into cells. Once inside cells, these
vectors slot themselves into the host genome. The insertion of foreign
genes into the host genome has long been known to have many harmful and
fatal effects including cancer of the organism."

* Professor Dennis Parke of University of Surrey School of
Biological Sciences, a former chief advisor on food safety to Unilever
Corporation and British advisor to the US FDA on safety aspects of
biotechnology writes: "In 1983, hundreds of people in Spain died after
consuming adulterated rapeseed oil. This adulterated rapeseed oil was not
toxic to rats". Dr Parke warns that current testing procedures for
genetically altered foods including rodent tests are not proving safety
for humans. He has suggested a moratorium on the release of genetically
engineered organisms, foods, and medicines.

Martha Crouch, Professor of Biology at Indiana University, Bloomington. She recently quit cooperation with the biotechnology industry. She says:
"You are basically treating the agricultural environment as if it was a factory where you are making televisions or VCRs. If nature is not a machine, if organisms are not machines, then to treat them as if they are, is going to create big problems."

* Dr Peter Wills, theoretical biologist at Auckland University
writes: "Genes encode proteins involved in the control of virtually all
biological processes. By transferring genes across species barriers which
have existed for aeons between species like humans and sheep we risk
breaching natural thresholds against unexpected biological processes. For
example, an incorrectly folded form of an ordinary cellular protein can
under certain circumstances be replicative and give rise to infectious
neurological disease".

* Dr Joseph Cummins, Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the
University of Western Ontario warns: "Probably the greatest threat from
genetically altered crops is the insertion of modified virus and insect
virus genes into crops. It has been shown in the laboratory that genetic
recombination will create highly virulent new viruses from such
constructions. Certainly the widely used cauliflower mosaic virus is a
potentially dangerous gene. It is a pararetrovirus meaning that it
multiplies by making DNA from RNA messages. It is very similar to the
Hepatitis B virus and related to HIV. Modified viruses could cause famine
by destroying crops or cause human and animal diseases of tremendous
power."

* Dr John Fagan, an award winning microbiologist and cancer
researcher, Professor of Microbiology at Maharishi University of
Management, has renounced $3 million in US government research grants to
publicise the dangers of misuse of biotechnology. He advocates a
science-based precautionary approach requiring the labelling of all novel
foods. He says "without labelling it will be very difficult for scientists
to trace the source of new illness caused by genetically engineered food".


* Dr Norman Ellstrand, Professor of Genetics at the University of
California, is one of the world's leading authorities in genetic
engineering. He comments on the economic implications for farmers of gene
exchange between crops and weedy relatives. "We see this as a
multi-million dollar problem. In Europe, there is already a big problem
with gene flow between wild beet and cultivated beet. Oil-seed rape also
has close relatives and is going to cause problems in the future. One
would expect that the kind of genes that are now being engineered are
going to be the ones that have a higher potentiality for causing trouble".

* Dr Michael Antoniou, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Pathology at a
London teaching hospital says, "the generation of genetically engineered
plants and animals involves the random integration of artificial
combinations of genetic material from unrelated species into the DNA of
the host organism. This procedure results in disruption of the genetic
blueprint of the organism with totally unpredictable consequences. The
unexpected production of toxic substances has now been observed in
genetically engineered bacteria, yeast, plants, and animals with the
problem remaining undetected until a major health hazard has arisen.
Moreover, genetically engineered food or enzymatic food processing agents
may produce an immediate effect or it could take years for full toxicity
to come to light." Because genetically engineered foods reproduce
themselves and can never be recalled from the environment, Dr Antoniou
warns of an unprecedented health risk for humanity.