The existing topic outline and identified key issues is relatively limited in scope. The following key issues should be added.

• Given the poor understanding of immunological and biochemical response to food, to what extent is chemical analysis predictive of safety?
• Threats to food safety will not simply arise from intended GM events. The Prodigene incident in the USA last year illustrates that food safety in relation to GM needs to be extended to field growing conditions. What mechanisms can and should be in place to assess and monitor for food safety assurance in such an agricultural landscape?
• How effective can any monitoring system be for food-related problems that are not contained in any of the statutory databases (which relate only to birth defects, cancer incidence etc.)? Discussions at the ACNFP suggest that organising an effective system is far from simple, and it is questionable whether it is possible.
• How good are the predictive tools on allergenicity and food intolerance, given that this is one area where there exists no good animal model, and the impacts can be very severe on small fractions of the population?

References

Ewan S. W. B and Pusztai A. (1999). Effect of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus nivalis lectin on rat small intestine. Lancet 354 (9187): 1353-1354.

Pusztai, A. (2002). Can science give us the tools for recognizing possible heath risks of GM food? Nutrition and Health, 16, 73-84.

Dr. Douglas Parr
Chief Scientific Adviser
Greenpeace UK
http:\\www.greenpeace.org.uk