GE corn approved without review of raw data

Questions are being raised about the safety of a GE food

A major Australian/New Zealand food health and safety watchdog has admitted that they approved a variety of genetically engineered (GE) corn for human consumption without reviewing or even possessing the applicant’s test data.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) had previously claimed that their approval of Monsanto’s corn, MON 863, was based on a comprehensive safety assessment that demonstrated it was safe.

However, FSANZ has done little more than review and accept the claims of safety made by Monsanto in summary documents, Greenpeace GE Campaigner Jeremy Tager said.

A French scientific committee also reviewed the same raw data from Monsanto and concluded that the corn could not be deemed safe for human consumption based on the supplied data.