Resources list, genetically engineered foods

[Patricia Dines <73652.1202@CompuServe.COM>]

Hi - I've had a number of requests for more information about unlabelled
genetically-engineered food in our food supply and how to participate in "just
saying no".  Below I've gathered from a variety of sources the names of some of
the people/groups working on this issue, for your information/action, and to
forward to others that might want to act to stop this horror before it really
gets a foodhold in our global ecosystem. I hope you find this info useful.
Please let me know if you have any additions or changes to this list.

P. Dines

RESOURCES LIST, GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
by P. Dines (73652.1202@compuserve.com)

** IMPORTANT:   The intention of this email is to serve people who want to
participate in this important issue, by connecting them with other people and
resources on this issue.  Please feel free to forward this email, keeping the
title, footer, and this note on it. But please note that this is not ready for
print publication or formal distribution - I pulled this info from press
releases etc. and would want to check with each person/group about how they'd
like to be shown before having this info in print.  
Please let me know if you have any additions or changes to this list.  Also
please let me know if you'd like me to write an article for your print
periodical on this subject.  Thanks!  (Hope you find it useful.)

RE: BOYCOTT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SOYBEANS
* Pure Food Campaign - Ronnie Cummins, 860 Highway 61, Little Marais, MN 55614;
phone (218) 226-4164; email purefood@aol.com.
* Foundation on Economic Trends - 1600 L Street NW, Suite 216, Washington DC
20036; phone (202) 466-2833; fax (202) 429-9602.
* Greenpeace - Terri Johnson, Chicago; phone (312) 563-6060;
http://www.greenpeace.org/~usa.  (They have list of sources of non-Roundup Ready
Soybeans. For further information contact James Gillies or Jon Walter at
Greenpeace International on 00 31 20 524 9547/8.  NYT article also mentions
Michelle Sheather, a campaigner for Greenpeace, at headquarters in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands)
* Mailing list GENTECH@tribe.ping.de - To get general information send "help"
(in the subject?) to: GENTECH-REQUEST@tribe.ping.de.  I think you send
"subscribe" in the subject to the same address to subscribe.  (Including news
updates Germany, Europe)
* San Francisco State Philosophy Department has just put together a new
homepage on the dangers of Genetic Engineering:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rone/Genetic%20Engineering.htm. 
Also see: www.bio-integrity.org
* For a complete e-mail overview of this problem e-mail request to:
pmligotti@earthlink.net
* For more information on the dangers of genetically-engineered foods, call or
write Mothers For Natural Law in the U.S. You will receive your own personal
"Safety-First" information pack by U.S. mail. Be persistent if you do not
receive it. Write or call again. They are totally swamped! Mothers For Natural
Law, P.O. Box 1177, Fairfield, Iowa  52556  U.S.A.  CALL 1-510-838-4249 leave
name, address, and phone [Note: I think this is likely really (515)]
1-515-472-2809, office number. 

OTHERS TAKING ACTION
* Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (no contact info; mentioned
in (Food & Water Journal, Spring 1996))
* Consumers (Union?) International (no contact info)

PLACES THAT ACTION IS OCCURRING (re: joining/creating action in your area)
* "On October 7, 1996, spokespersons representing more than 300 consumer,
health, trade and agricultural organizations from 48 countries announced the
launch of a world wide boycott of genetically engineered soy and corn produced
in the U.S." (PAN 10/14 press release)
* "The Secretary General of EuroCommerce, a trade association representing over
one third of the European Union's food wholesalers and retailers, stated last
week that they will refuse to accept Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" soybeans from
the U.S. unless they are labeled."  (PAN 10/14 press release)
* "Nestles, Uniler and other companies in Germany, Austria have agreed to 
not use soybean or to use only guaranteed non-RRS soybeans.  Many of the 
retailers throughout Europe are calling for separation of RRS so they can label 
any soy-containing products to allow consumers a choice." (Personal memo)
* "Protesters trying to keep the modified beans out of Europe this week chained
themselves to gates in Germany, occupied the office of the Austrian health
minister and climbed to the roof of the headquarters of Swiss food
group Nestle SA." (The Reuters World Service)
* "In Germany, a poll conducted by the Market, Environment, and Society
Institute found that 80% of the public is opposed to genetically engineered
foods, and 95% of the public favors labelling of genetically engineered
products."
* "Food industry associations in Sweden, the Netherlands and other countries
are concerned that products using the beans could be challenged in court by
consumer groups demanding further testing of their long-term safety. Grocery
chains, including Sainsbury, Tesco and Safeway PLC in Britain, are demanding
that U.S. producers keep the Monsanto beans separate and labeled as altered."
(NYT)
* "the Danish Asthma and Allergies Association has warned about the unknown
allergic potential of genetically contaminated food." (GreenPeace)
* "Nutana, the largest Scandinavian producer of canned vegetarian food, has
announced that it will not take RRS, and has taken measures to get other
soybeans." (GreenPeace)
* Switzerland, Nestle (GreenPeace) 
   For further info contact: Stefan Weber, genetic engineering 
   campaigner 0041 79 / 405 68 20 ... 
   Clement Tolusso, Greenpeace-press officer 0041 79 / 213 41 06 
* Poland (GreenPeace gave info to people, was in the press)
* Argentina (GreenPeace working with farmers)
* Iowa USA (GreenPeace, action on field, spray)
* U.N. Food and Agriculture (FAO) World Food Summit in Rome ("Three women
stripped naked in front of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on Wednesday
in a protest over genetically modified U.S. soybeans....disrupted the
start of a news conference called by Glickman"  (The Reuters World Service)
* "The emergence of militant farmers' movements in India and across south Asia
reflects an emerging worldwide awareness of the hazards of corporate
agriculture, and is an important counterpart to our own activism here in the
U.S." (Food & Water Journal, Spring 1996) 

PLACES WHERE TESTING BEING DONE, AND PLAN GROW CROPS (re: possible local action
and information to media)
* "Since 1990, nearly 3000 varieties of genetically engineered plants,
animals and bacteria have been developed and field tested in the United
States.  Field tests have occured in every state except Vermont, New
Hampshire, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada." (Food & Water Journal, Spring
1996)  Also discusses testing being done at the Univ. of Florida.
* "Monsanto has conducted field tests with RS in Argentina, Belize, Costa Rica,
the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Italy, France, and Japan. (GreenPeace)
* "There have been experiments involving animal viruses including rabies, as
well as a deadly rabbit virus that recently escaped from an experimental
facility on Wardang Island, off the coast of Australia."(Food & Water Journal,
Spring 1996) 
* "But Monsanto, the American Soybean Association, and the U.S. government are
not paying any mind to the consumer. The plan now is to plant one million or
so acres of RRS in 1996, mostly in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and
Louisiana, and to mix the beans with traditional soybeans at grain elevators
in the region. In 1997, RRS varieties will be ready for Iowa and Illinois,
the biggest soybean growing states. These millions of acres of genetically
engineered soybeans will be crushed and processed and become part of
hundreds of different products spread throughout your supermarket shelves -
unlabelled." (GreenPeace)

ARTICLES
* Food & Water Journal, Spring 1996, "GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS:  COMING TO
YOUR SUPERMARKET? (Published as "CONSUMER BEWARE.") Good overview of the issue
and discusses individual foods as well.  
* November 7, 1996, New York Times: "Genetic Soybeans From the U.S. Alarm
Europeans"
* (Much good info in news releases from these organizations too.)

OTHER BIOTECH LEADS
* Non-Governmental Organizations and Biotechnology: A Directory, 1996.* Center
for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN). Presents brief 
summaries of more than 200 NGOs from around the world that work on biotechnology
issues, including contact information, staff, budget, objectives and activities.
Organizes groups according to region and country. 277 
pp. CASIN, Programme on Non-Governmental Organizations, 11A, Avenue de la Paix,
1202 Geneva, Switzerland; phone (41 22) 734-8950; fax (41 22) 733-6444.  SOURCE:
Pesticide Action Network (PAN)

OTHER POSSIBLE LEADS
* Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), 116 New Montgomery, #810, San
Francisco, CA 94105. (415) 541-9140. Fax:(415) 541-9253. Email: panna@panna.org.
Web site: http://www.panna.org/panna/.  Online mailing list. Lots of
international work.
* Rachel's Hazardous Waste News, Environmental Research Foundation, P. O. Box
73700, Washington DC 20056. (202) 328-1119. Covers general toxics issues.
Weekly 2-pager covering one topic.  Interesting, useful, good data.  Named for
Rachel Carson.

OTHER NOTES
* You may be eating soybeans even if you don't realize it.  "Soybeans are one of
the United States' biggest farm exports to Europe; oil from the crushed beans is
used in a wide variety of grocery items, including margarine, cake and
chocolate, and soy meal is fed to livestock and poultry." (NYT)
* Approval status: "The bioengineered beans, developed by the St. Louis-based
chemical producer Monsanto to yield larger harvests at lower costs, have been
approved by both the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and the
European Union". (NYT article)
* Monsanto downplays the controversy over genetic engineering in Europe. A
caller to the company's RRS information line (in the U.S., 800-332-3111)
learns only that European Union (EU) approval is "taken care of." There is no
mention that three of the EU's member states objected, that import of RRS
into Switzerland will be illegal, that the European Parliament opposes RRS, or
that formal EU approval came just prior to the "mad cow disease" scandal. The
aftermath of this scandal has caused European countries to take a more
cautious approach to food issues in general and genetically engineered food
in particular. For example, European countries have so far halted the grant of
an approval for the commercial use of another genetically engineered crop,
Ciba's genetically engineered corn, which is also grown by U.S. farmers. The EU
approval for Monsanto's RRS may likely come under challenge again." (GreenPeace)
* "According to the American Soybean Association, Europeans buy about 25% of the
US $14 billion of soybean products sold by U.S. farmers. Another major
market for U.S. soybean is Japan, which has not yet approved the import and use
of RRS for human food." (GreenPeace)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:  Patricia Dines
73652.1202@compuserve.com

Specializing in educating and empowering citizen action on toxics and their
alternatives and how we might work together to create a healthy global
ecosystem, with healthy people, agriculture, etc.  I do this work through
writing articles, classes, booklets, and other materials and through teaching
and giving talks.

Please contact me for more information on my services, how it might support your
goals, to make a financial contribution so that I can continue my work (often
made for free), or to alert me to potential clients who might be supported by my
services.

Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------