Genetically Modified Food Products

Monday 22 February 1999 12:00AM (view full episode)

There are heated debates going on around the world at the moment about genetically modified food products. Rae Fry looks at what's happening here in Australia.


Norman Swan: Welcome to the program. Today on The Health Report, what it takes to live to be 100. You too could have a photograph taken of you with six generations of your family.

What is it that centenarians have in common, apart from good genes? It's psychological, and you'll find out more soon.

And, the food that may or may not get you that far. Last week in Britain, there was an uproar engineered by the environmental lobby over what are called genetically modified foods. Over the weekend our papers were full of the issue as well. No-one's sure how much genetically modified foods are in the shops, modified for all sorts of reasons, including more protein, more efficient growth, or being weedkiller resistant, so chemical companies can sell higher volumes of their herbicides.

Well as we speak, a radical new approach is under way to help make decisions about what reaches our supermarket aisles. Ordinary people are coming together to hear the scientific evidence for and against genetically engineered foods, and make up their own minds in what's called a consensus conference. Should these foods continue to be sold, and if so, who should decide, and how ought they be controlled?

The Health Report's Rae Fry has been following this fascinating community experiment.

Rae Fry: Last week the Australian New Zealand Food Authority gave health and safety approval for the first two genetically modified food products under a new set of Australian rules for testing. But you might be surprised to find out that in fact both those foods are already on supermarket shelves, and have been for some time. Even if you're a diligent reader of packets and cans, you could be forgiven for failing to notice, since at the moment there's no requirement that genetically altered foods be labelled as such.

Right now the debate's starting to hot up. Last December, in spite of opposition from the food industry, the Council of Health Ministers decided that compulsory labelling would be introduced. And during this year, the whole regulatory framework for genetically modified foods is being overhauled.

But what are these foods that are lurking, complete with manipulated DNA, under our very noses?

Carole Renouf, from the Australian Consumers' Association.

Carole Renouf: To the best of our knowledge, the genetically modified foods that are currently present on the Australian market, (I should describe them more as ingredients rather than foods) they would be the genetically modified soy, which has come in imported from the US, and there is also genetically modified cotton, which is actually grown in Australia; and the oil, the cottonseed oil from that cotton goes into products like margarine for example.

Rae Fry: The Consumers' Association has been lobbying for labelling for a long time. But if we can't even notice the difference between genetically modified soybeans that have been tweaked so that they can tolerate weedkiller, and their conventional counterparts, then what's the big deal?

After all, biotechnologists say they're only doing what plant breeders have been doing for centuries, but with quicker and cleaner technology, and with the potential to make plants produce extra vitamins, or even vaccines against disease.

But some critics, including Dr John Coveney, a nutritionist from the Department of Public Health at Flinders University, say that mixing and matching DNA sequences from plants and animals could have unpredictable consequences.

John Coveney: There are some risks. For example one particular soybean was produced using a gene spliced into it from Brazil nut. Now the idea was that the gene would improve the nutritional value of the soybean. It turned out that during human volunteer testing, a number of people showed allergenic reactions to that particular product. We have to proceed with total caution.

Rae Fry: The food industry says they are being cautions, and the fact that the Brazil nut allergen was picked up well before that soybean went to market shows that testing is adequate. Surveys have shown that Australian consumers are not particularly concerned about genetically modified foods. But it could be that we're just not aware how far the technology has already gone. And even if we were, how would we be able to decide whether or not it's a good thing, particularly in terms of predicting long-term consequences, not just the immediate effects, like allergies.

John Coveney: I think one of the main concerns that people have is that they feel that the issue is being driven by profit-takers in the form of large multinational companies. And I think that it's very important that regulatory authorities take a firm step in the regulation of these foods, in order to restore confidence in the way our food supply is being regulated.

Secondly, people need to be given the choice about whether they would like to choose genetically modified foods or their more traditional components. Lastly, we need a much larger public health debate about the possible consequences of these foods as they enter the food supply, and that's why I'm very, very excited about the People's Consensus Conference, because I think that's a very positive way forward.

Rae Fry: So what is this Consensus Conference exactly, and how much of a difference is it likely to make?

The whole thing has been organised by an interesting coalition, representing scientific, environmental and consumer groups, and they don't all share the same opinions. The citizen panel is made up of 14 people from all over Australia, picked more or less at random, who had no previous knowledge of the issue. They've already been through an intensive briefing process, but their identities are being kept secret so that they can't be harassed by those who may wish to influence the outcome. And then from the 10th to the 12th March, in the Senate Chamber of Old Parliament House in Canberra, they'll be debating some thorny questions, such as:

What are the health and environmental risks of genetically modified foods;

How much risk is acceptable;

And is it ethical to own and manipulate living things?

Carole Renouf is one of the conference organisers.

Carole Renouf: The citizens hear expertise or evidence from the speakers from conflicting points of view, and then retire and try and resolve that in some way, and come up with a report that gives their conclusions.

Rae Fry: The question of what effect their report will have is a moot point, says Carole Renouf, since no government bodies have made any promises to act on the panel's findings. But from a political point of view, the voice of the people will be hard to ignore, and she hopes that the process will at least get decision makers thinking about how to incorporate citizens' opinions into difficult areas of science and technology policy.

Carole Renouf: You see, the very fact that people, stakeholders, say, 'Well we must educate the community properly', to me indicates that they are not approaching it from the right point of view because that is a top-down, let's-open-up-their-brains-and-pour-it-in type of approach. Whereas you really need I think in terms of dispelling ignorance, anxiety, fear, you start from the bottom up, and that's what the Consensus Conference tries to do.

Rae Fry: If it's a success, the Consensus Conference could be used for citizen participation in a whole range of issues. In countries like Denmark, it's an established part of political life. Whether or not it takes off in Australia, like genetically modified foods, remains to be seen. We'll be keeping you up to date throughout the process, so listen in.

Norman Swan: Rae Fry. And if you'd like to be in the audience for the proceedings as the panel hears its evidence in Canberra from 10th to 12th March, you can be. Just call The Australian Museum, on 02/9320 6114. And they've got a website which is (go to the 'What's New' section).


Dr. John Coveney
Senior Lecturer in Primary Health Care
Dept. of Public Health
Flinders University,
Carole Renouf
Senior Policy Officer
Australian Consumers' Association
57 Carrington Road
Marrickville NSW 2204
Fax: 02 - 9577-3377


Dr Norman Swan
Brigitte Seega
Rae Fry