By Carey Gillam
GMO companies have launched a website to take on the anti-biotech movement
A group of biotech seed companies recently launched an online forum to combat mounting opposition to genetically modified foods among consumer groups and activists.
The website, www.GMOAnswers.com, is designed as a "central online resource" for information on genetically modified organisms and their use in agriculture and food production, the Biotechnology Industry Organization said.
The website is backed in part by Monsanto, DuPont , Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical, and other companies whose products include seeds that have been genetically altered in ways the companies say improve food production.
The website launch is part of a broad campaign by the biotech industry to try to beat back growing calls for GMO food labeling and for tighter regulation of the biotech seed industry in the United States. European opposition to GMOs is so strong that Monsanto recently said it would withdraw all pending requests to grow new types of GMO crops.
Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, the agricultural unit of DuPont, said anti-GMO forces have been using the Internet very effectively to get their message out, and industry wants to use the same strategy to combat what he said were notions "not always based in fact."
"This ... is an effort to increase the dialogue. That is all we want," said Schickler. "Dialogue is good. Over time, I think we'll come to a common understanding."
Critics predicted the industry effort to change consumer skepticism would fail, saying there is ample scientific evidence that GMO foods can contribute to health problems in animals and humans, and hurt the environment.
"This latest effort will likely do little to stop the consumer backlash against genetically engineered foods that has been brewing for years," says Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, a consumer organisation.
The most popular gene-altered crops withstand dousings of weed-killing chemicals and produce their own insect-killing toxins. Biotech corn, canola, soybeans, and other crops are used in human food and animal feed around the world and biotech companies say they are heavily regulated and thoroughly tested.
But some scientific studies have cast doubt on the safety of these biotech crops.
Last year, Monsanto and other industry members spent $40 million to defeat a ballot initiative in California to require labeling of GMO food. Similar initiatives are underway in several other U.S. states and at the federal level.
Grocery retailer Whole Foods said this year it would require suppliers to label any product made with genetically modified ingredients. And the Natural Products Association, which represents 1,900 food industry players, has called for a uniform standard for GMO labeling to apply nationwide.
Burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc recently became the first major U.S. restaurant chain to disclose GMO ingredients, and is moving to remove such products from its supply chain.
China approves genetically modified Argentine corn shipment
By Hugh Bronstein of Reuters
China has approved its first shipment of genetically modified Argentine corn, signaling that the Asian country may eventually import GMO crops from other producers like the United States.
Argentine Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said Chinese health authorities cleared 60,000 tonnes of genetically modified (GMO) Argentine corn. The cargo was already headed inland to be used as hog and chicken feed.
Argentina competes for market share with the United States, the No. 1 world corn exporter. U.S. farmers could eventually benefit from China finally opening the door to GMO corn imports.
"For many years, we have worked to gain access to the Chinese market. Today, we did it with a cargo of very high-quality corn," Yauhar said in a statement that named trading company Bunge as the exporter of the cargo.
"The authorities in China have finally let us in, opening a potentially enormous market for our corn," the minister added.
Argentina is the world's No. 3 corn and soybean exporter, as well as its top supplier of byproducts such as soyoil and soymeal. China is already a major buyer of Argentine soy.
Demand for corn-fed pork and poultry has boomed in China as a growing middle class can afford a higher-protein diet.
The market knew since May that Argentine corn was headed to China. But questions lingered as to whether it would be approved for entry by the AQSIQ, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
"The cargo has now been approved by the AQSIQ, and the vessel has been discharged in China. The corn is officially imported and on its way to end customers," said a source at a major trading company in Buenos Aires, asking not to be named.
Most Argentine corn is genetically modified. A small amount was allowed into China late last year as a test case under a China-Argentina GMO deal signed in February 2012.
There is broad scientific consensus that food in the market derived from genetically modified crops pose no greater risk than conventional food. However, advocacy groups argue the risks of GMO food have not been adequately identified.
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