30 August 2024

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has declined to extend the deadline for comment on the deregulation of gene edited (GE) food, despite calling the proposed changes "a paradigm shift" in regulation.

Earlier submissions calling for transparency and labelling have been ignored by FSANZ. Proposal P1055 places comments on labelling of GE products as out of scope and will exempt certain New Breeding Techniques (NBT) that include gene-edited products from pre-market assessment. This means they do not have to be labelled as such. [1]

"FSANZ are pulling a fast one by not allowing time for people to fully understand the changes. Food produced with New Breeding Techniques (NBT) that include gene editing processes will be hidden from consumers," said Jon Carapiet, spokesman for GE-Free NZ (in food and environment).

"These are major changes. GE in the mainstream food supply, which effects everyone."

"It is very concerning that once again, FSANZ has denied consumers the time to properly consider the large amount of documentation on this issue. FSANZ is the trans-Tasman regulatory body responsible for the assessment on GMOs in our food and its processes need to be informative and transparent." said Claire Bleakley, GE-Free NZ president.

"This is a direct attack on the consumer's right to have adequate information on foods grown from gene edited plants. There is potential for these GE foods to cause damage to the gut, the bowel and the immune system. Such damage has already been observed in research on animals that were fed GE foods. “

FSANZ has said that it is difficult to detect the difference between gene edited and conventionally bred plants. This is a lazy and not entirely accurate view. Producers using gene editing can be required to provide identification markers. Methods exist to assess unexpected changes in gene edited food that can be detected accurately with newly developed and current tools. [2]

“We should reject all FSANZ P1055 proposals. They are unacceptable. Gene edited are fake, synthetic foods and beverages. They are patented, refined, ultra-processed, and made for ease of industry use.” said Claire Bleakley.

"Just because FSANZ does not want to detect the changes does not mean they don't exist. FSANZ is now adding to their policy of 'Don't look, don’t find,' with 'Don't listen' as well.”

References:

[1] https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/food-standards-code/proposals/p1055-definitions-for-gene-technology-and-new-breeding-techniques

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10488114/

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