WEIRD DNA FOUND IN ROUNDUP READY SOYBEANS

by Cat Lazaroff

(ENS)-Belgian scientists have found DNA from an unknown source in Roundup Ready soybeans, a genetically engineered crop produced by US-based biotechnology giant Monsanto. The announcement comes as the Bush administration places increasing pressure on other nations to relax food safety laws seen as threatening US economic interests. A peer-reviewed study in the European Journal of Food Research Technology details work by a team of scientists from three Belgian universities and research centers. The team stated: �Our results establish that during integration of the insert DNA, several rearrangements occurred,� the team writes. �The genomic plant DNA at the pre-integration site may have been rearranged.� This is the second time this team of researchers has observed inaccuracies in Monsanto�s description of its best selling genetically engineered (GE) soybeans. �The findings clearly establish that the GE soybean that has been approved based on Monsanto�s own description of the genetic alterations is not identical to the GE soya sold by the company since 1996 worldwide,� said a spokesperson for the environmental group Greenpeace International. �Monsanto has again been shown to not even know the basic genetic information about what is in their GE soya.� This is the first time that a peer reviewed scientific journal has published an independent scientific analysis of data submitted by a company for approval of a GE food product. The announcement comes as a coalition of conservation, consumer and farm groups have contacted US officials, protesting Bush administration threats to challenge food safety laws of other countries as barriers to international trade. In light of the new evidence that Monsanto may not be fully aware of what these soybeans contain, Greenpeace is calling on countries that have approved Roundup Ready soybeans to take immediate steps to review that approval. �From a legal point of view, the only adequate reaction is to suspend the approval and to reevaluate the environmental and health impacts of the GE soya,� said the Greenpeace spokesman. �This is fundamental: the accurate description of the inserted DNA and the genetic alterations of the GE soya is the very basis of any further risk assessment.� Greenpeace has published the DNA sequence on its website, and invited the international scientific community to help identify its nature and possible consequences. The information is at: www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/highlights/gmo/Monsanto_DNA_MP.htm.