FEED - March 2005
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2. Pharma food crops aren't safe
3. UTI: a foodborne illness?
4. Protecting crop diversity
5. GMO-free areas in Europe
1. Maine addresses antibiotic use
A new bill under consideration, Keep Antibiotics Working for Maine, would encourage state institutions and schools to buy meat only from animals that are raised without the routine use of medically important antibiotics. Limiting antibiotic use in livestock can prevent the development of harmful antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. The bill specifically directs state buyers to avoid chicken products raised with Cipro-like fluoroquinolone antibiotics, which are very important for the treatment of serious cases of food poisoning in humans. Click here to read the text of Keep Antibiotics Working for Maine (LD 1126).
2. Pharma food crops aren't safe
The biotechnology industry has developed genetically engineered versions of corn and soybean called pharma crops that produce hormones, vaccines, research chemicals, and industrial products. Seven pharma crop products are already on the market. In a new Union of Concerned Scientists report, an independent panel of agricultural experts concludes that the food supply cannot be protected from contamination by pharma crops within the current food production system. Based on the experts’ analysis, UCS recommends immediately halting outdoor production of pharma food crops and exploring alternatives for pharmaceutical production, such as non-food crops and fermentation and cell culture systems. Click here to read the report, A Growing Concern.
3. UTI: a foodborne illness?
New evidence supports the suggestion that urinary tract infections (UTIs) may be caused by drug-resistant E. coli bacteria originating in food animals. Researchers found that a quarter of E. coli samples from a collection of animal isolates were highly similar to drug-resistant E. coli samples from women experiencing UTIs. (Citation: Ramchandani, M., A.R. Manges, C. DebRoy, S.P. Smith, J.R. Johnson, and L.W. Riley. 2005. Possible animal origin of human-associated, multidrug-resistant, uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Clinical Infectious Diseases 40 (2): 251-57. Click here to read the abstract.) UTIs, which affect nearly one woman in three by age 24, are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, especially trimethoprim-sulfamethoxozole, the first-line antibiotic treatment. Resistant infections typically last longer, are more painful, and may require trips to the emergency room.
4. Protecting crop diversity
The Global Crop Diversity Trust will establish an endowment to provide permanent funding to protect food crops in the world’s genebanks, many of which are suffering financially and in danger of losing their collections. Genebanks are collections of seeds and other genetic material from crops and their wild relatives that breeders can use as a source of fresh genes to introduce vigor, disease resistance, or other traits into their crops. The Trust, a partnership between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute, has received pledges of $54 million from governments, foundations, and corporations toward its endowment goal of $260 million. To read more, visit www.startwithaseed.org.
5. GMO-free areas in Europe
The Campaign for a GMO-Free Europe, sponsored by Friends of the Earth, has collected GMO-free declarations from 3500 areas (entities like counties or municipalities) in 26 European nations. In addition, regional and local authorities are petitioning the European Commission for the right to decide whether GMOs can be grown in their areas, a right not granted under current law. Meanwhile, the European Commission is under pressure from the United States and the World Trade Organization to keep European markets for GMOs open. Click here to see the map of GMO-free areas and read the petition.
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