top of page
Search
Writer's pictureSarah
Sep 13 min read

Deregulation of Gene Editing - How to Make a Submission

Firstly, thanks so much for wanting to make a submission and have your voice heard on this important issue. If you are yet to hear about how FSANZ want to remove transparency of GE food please see my recent post here.



“The new law would amend the definitions of ‘food produced using gene technology’ and ‘gene technology’ in the Food Standards Code. Refined synthetic foods made using Gene Editing (aka New Breeding Techniques) and GM methods would be exempt from any notification, assessment, regulation, and labelling. The fermentations and chemicals used to make fake meat, mock milk, synthetic seafoods, additives, processing aids, colours and flavours would all be exempt. 3D printing of food is exempt.
FSANZ ignores hard evidence that eating ultra-processed foods, loaded with salt, fat, sugar, and synthetic factory-made ingredients, causes diabetes, obesity, colorectal cancer, heart disease, etc. FSANZ disregards the health, well-being and safety of your family as it is in bed with the global junk food industry that sells addictive, refined, ultra-processed food ingredients” Bob Phelps from Gene Edit sums the issue up nicely!

You can find the information on the proposal (P1055 Definitions for gene technology and new breeding techniques) here


You can also make a submission through the above link. However, as there are limited questions in the portal it is recommended you email your submission to: submissions@foodstandards.gov.au 


Submission points

PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING POINTS TO HELP MAKE A SUBMISSION IN YOUR OWN WORDS


We need each submission to be counted individually, so using your own words is really important. 


These points were put together by Gene Ethics and highlight the main issues well.  


Submissions close on the 10th of September.


Subject: My comments on P1055  

I object to the FSANZ proposal to exempt gene edited and GM food processes and ingredients from notification, assessment, regulation, and labelling. I therefore strongly support:  

  • exclusion from the human food supply all ultra-processed food ingredients, including those derived from NBTs (New Breeding Techniques) and other biotechnologies (GM and gene edited). The hard evidence that they cause increasing obesity, diabetes, colorectal cancers, and other illness among young and elderly people is compelling;    

  • my right to be fully informed and to choose what my family eats - for cultural and personal reasons - through the full labelling of all Gene Edited and GM foods, food ingredients, processing aids, additives, flavours, colours, etc;   

  • case-by-case assessment of all Gene Edited foods, ingredients, and production processes used in NBTs, without the exemptions that P1055 proposes, with the spurious and irrelevant claims that refining and ultra-processing remove all foreign DNA and proteins;  

  • rigorous and precautionary assessment of all materials and processes used in food fermentations to produce fake meat, mock milk, spurious seafood, and all other synthetic food-like substances that industry may in future propose;  

  • assessment and ongoing monitoring of all NBT-derived food stuffs that may enter the food supply, which do not have the long history of harmless use that conventional foods do, with which they are compared for safety;  

  • putting the public interest, the right to know, and good health ahead of trade and industry issues, when the costs and benefits of biotech food manufacturing methods and products are assessed;  

  • requiring the food industry to submit published, peer reviewed, and independent scientific evidence that all NBTs used to produce food stuffs are, in the short and long term, efficacious for the safety, health, and wellbeing of the whole community;  

  • all food systems and supplies being protected from the unlabelled and unwelcome intrusion of ultra-processed foods, made using NBTs and other new food production methods that may in future be developed.  


If you would like more information to review: 

There is a webinar on the issues run by FSANZ, being held Monday 2 September 1-2 pm - https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/e438a0aa-0cb5-422d-a86e-876b76bb34c0@6deea5ad-8e79-45b8-88fe-895f2bb48673  


Thanks so much for taking the time to make a submission. As more information comes to hand I will add it here.


404 views0 comments

Comentarios

bottom of page