|
55. Are GM crops used to feed animals?
Yes, animal feed is derived from commercially approved GM crops such as soybeans, cotton, corn and canola. Of these, cotton is the only commercially grown GM crop in Australia. Feed containing GM soybean and corn may be imported into Australia.
56. What impact does GM animal feed have on the animals and their products?
More than 130 animal feeding studies designed to detect any unintended effects in livestock fed approved, commercial GM crops, have been conducted or are currently in progress. Many of these studies, conducted in Europe and the USA, compared the performances of livestock fed either GM crops or non-GM feeds, and have included dairy cows, beef cows, chickens, pigs, sheep and catfish. The GM crops studied included pest resistant corn, and herbicide tolerant soybeans, and corn. The conclusions from these studies were consistent, showing no detrimental effects have been found in livestock fed GM crops.
The Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS), a federation comprising over 10,000 dairy, meat and poultry scientists announced in November 2000, that meat, milk and eggs from livestock and poultry fed GM feed are safe to eat. The FASS scientists reviewed all the worldwide data available, and concluded that the studies confirmed that there is no effect from feeding approved, commercial GM crops to livestock and poultry on the nutritional value or safety of meat, milk and eggs.
In Australia, animal feed derived from GM products is regulated by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR). For example, after a GM product has undergone field trials (such as GM cotton), the organisation conducting the trials, may wish to use the unviable by-product (such as the cotton seed) as animal feed. Before allowing the GM product to be used in such a way, the Gene Technology Regulator will consider any safety risk associated with the proposed dealings of the GM product.
Because of the severe drought conditions in Australia over the last few years, imports of high-protein animal feed have been required from overseas. Animal feed coming from the USA contains GM content because GM varieties of crops such as corn and soybean are grown in North America and are largely not segregated from non GM varieties. Animal feed imports containing GM content must be approved by both the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and the OGTR.
57. What is StarLink corn?
StarLink corn was genetically modified to resist major corn pests. It was registered for use as a domestic animal feed and for non-food, industrial use in the USA, but it was not approved for use in the human food chain because further data on whether the newly introduced protein was allergenic to humans, was needed. However, in 2000, traces of StarLink corn were found in taco shells and a recall of hundreds of corn products resulted.
Following the discovery of StarLink in human food products, a nationwide investigation began to see if any human illnesses had resulted from the consumption of GM corn products. On 13 June, 2001 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its report to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which concluded, "These findings do not provide any evidence that the reactions that the affected people experienced were associated with hypersensitivity to the Cry9C protein." StarLink corn seed is no longer available for sale, and seed companies have destroyed their stocks of the seed. The registration for growing StarLink corn has been withdrawn and all traces of the corn are being removed from the supply chain.
 Back to top
|
