Call for ban on mutant soybeans
The Australian GeneEthics Network has called for a ban on US soybean imports contaminated with genetically engineered beans and herbicide residues.
US multinationals Monsanto and Cargill want to import soya beans from crops that tolerate high doses of Monsanto's herbicide Roundup. Roundup, says the GeneEthics Network, will be applied more often, at higher doses and with less care because of the soybeans' higher tolerance.
According to GeneEthics Network director Bob Phelps, "The National Registration Authority on Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals has secretly approved a 200-fold increase in the allowable residue levels in these imported soybeans — from 0.1 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg". Roundup is not approved for use in Australia.
"Monsanto's claim that their genetically engineered products would eliminate chemicals from agriculture is clearly false, and their polluted products must not be allowed into the country", Phelps said. "These mutant beans would be the first whole food from gene technology in australia, but oil from the seeds of toxic cotton now being grown in NSW will soon be in foods too."
Phelps said that the engineered soybeans "offer no benefits to the Australian community but put the whole soya bean supply and their many healthy products under suspicion.
"Transgenic soybeans are only about 4% of the US soya crop this year, and Monsanto has admitted they can be grown, harvested and stored separately. They are easily detected by a cheap, simple and reliable test. Plenty of normal soya beans are available locally and from overseas to meet Australian needs."