Despite huge consumer rejection of genetically modified (GM) foods, GMOs are still getting into the food chain through the back door. The culprit is animal feed. Unless the animal feed market is regulated, GMOs will continue to contaminate the environment and the food chain.

All too often animal feed has been the dumping ground for otherwise unsaleable waste from the food industry. The BSE crisis had its origins in contaminated animal

feed and so did the recent dioxin crisis in Belgium. More recently in France it has been revealed that a mixture of human and sewage waste had been fed to livestock. The lesson is simple : contaminated animal feed may in turn contaminate the meat, fish, eggs or dairy products that we eat.

GM crops are grown in the open environment. Whether they are destined for human or animal consumption, their environmental impact is the same. GM crops are a form of living pollution. Once released into the environment, they cannot be recalled or contained. Many GM crops can cross pollinate with other crops and wild relatives, and growing them can lead to the contamination of non-GM and organic produce. Studies have already shown that butterflies can be adversely affected by some GM crops.

Unlike processed food for humans, animal feed is often fed raw. Traits such as antibiotic resistance in GM maize could be transferred to bacteria "in the gut of animals fed on the unprocessed material" according to the main Government advisory committee on GM food. This could add to the problems already caused by the misuse of antibiotics in intensive farming.

Another reason animal feed may pose a special problem is because of the large amounts of GM feed intake. In 1992 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked the US Centre for Veterinary Medicine for their concerns about GM crops. They responded: "Unlike a food in the human diet, an animal feed derived from a single plant (maize or soya) may constitute a significant portion of the animal diet. Therefore, a change in

nutrient or toxicant composition that is considered insignificant for human consumption may be a very significant change in the animal diet." The FDA ignored these concerns and no safety tests were done concerning changes to nutrient or toxicant composition.

According to a UK Government report issued on 11th March 1999, "A substan-

tial proportion of 2 million tonnes of soya meal, 1.1 million tonnes of maize and 500,000

GMO Foods (contd.) :

tonnes of distillers grains used in animal feed could contain material derived from unsegregated GM varieties." Two main GM crops are soya and maize :

Soya: GM soya accounted for 55% of total US soya in 1999. Over 80% of traded soya is used in animal feed. The European Union buys 25 million

tonnes of soya meal a year and more than half comes from the US.

Maize: GM maize accounted for 35% of total US maize acreage in 1999.

Sixty percent of traded maize is used as animal feed.

No regulation :

At present there is no EU regulation on the use of GMO's in animal feed. There

is no requirement to label GM animal feed or the food products of animals fed GM crops.

Solution : GM-free animal feed

You might have thought that when supermarkets announced they would not stock GM products that this was a comprehensive statement covering all GM ingredients. But

was animal feed mentioned or omitted? Marks & Spencer are selling free-range eggs, chickens and pork that have not been contaminated by GM feed. Other supermarkets are considering similar moves. It is time to insist that animals from which we get meat, poultry, dairy products and fish be raised on non-GM produce. By buying organic, of course, you already do this.

Consumer Power Works

If you want to do something active to put a stop to GM animal feed here's how you can help:

Phone supermarket carelines (most are freephone numbers) and tell the careline operator that you don't want to buy products from animals fed GM feed. Ask for a com-mitment to stop using GM animal feed and a date by when it will happen.

Supermarket carelines :

Asda/Walmart : 01 432-362-312 Co-op : 0800-317-827

Safeway : 01622-71 2-000 Sainsbury : 0800-636-262

Somerfield : 011 7-935-666 Tesco : 0800-505-555

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