Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Religious investors call for boycott of GM sugar

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Religious investors call for boycott of GM sugar
  • Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:00:49 -0700

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=83750-iccr-gm-sugar-beet
Religious investors call for boycott of GM sugar
By Chris Jones

3/5/2008- A coalition of ethical stock market investors have called
on 63 US food, beverage and restaurant companies to stop using
genetically modified (GM) sugar beet.

The coalition of nearly 300 faith-based investors with over $100bn in
invested capital, which goes under the name of the Interfaith Center
on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), has launched a web-based campaign
against the planting of GM sugar beets from the April 2008 planting
season.

The campaign, at www.DontPlantGMOBeets.org, claims that allowing GM
sugar into the US food chain would affect thousands of the most
widely consumed products in the US.

Among the companies being targeted by the campaigners are McDonald's,
Campbell Soup, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, PepsiCo and Hershey's.

The ICCR says it is concerned about sugar beets and other genetically
modified crops because of "weak governmental review and oversight,
and the lack of long-term, independent and peer-reviewed safety
studies" - a concern more often seen among European consumers, who
remain largely opposed to any GM crops.

Consumers visiting the site will be encouraged to print off a letter
to send to the food companies concerned. It reads: "As a consumer, I
am writing to urge your company to publicly oppose the spring 2008
planting of genetically modified sugar beets in the United States.

"You have the power to tell agribusiness firms that you won't buy
sugar made from genetically modified sugar beets. You should know
that I am among the more than 50 percent of Americans who avoid
genetically modified foods if given a choice."

It ends: "I do not want to be 'forced' to eat genetically modified
sugar either because it is sneaked into my food on an undisclosed
basis or because it is added into virtually all food and beverages."

The new sugar beet strain, created by Monsanto, was approved by the
US Department of Agriculture in March 2005, and is modified to be
resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

"If the sugar beets in question are planted, genetically modified
sugar will enter the food supply in early 2009," said Leslie Lowe,
director of the energy and environment program at ICCR.

"If the US companies at the focus of the new ICCR campaign use
genetically modified sugar, their exports to the European Union will
require documentation and testing, an additional cost and inconvenience.

"These companies face major potential backlashes if they do not act
now to stop the use of genetically modified sugar from sugar beets.
Not only can these companies send a clear signal that they will not
buy, but they have done this sort of thing before."

She explained that, under pressure from consumers, McDonald's has
already pledged not to use genetically engineered potatoes for its
French fries, while General Mills does not use genetically engineered
wheat and brewer Anheuser-Busch does not use genetically engineered
rice.

"Campbell's Soup Co does not use genetically engineered tomatoes even
though the company helped to develop such a tomato. Now, it is time
for these companies and others to make it clear again that they are
not going to try to sneak genetically modified sugar into the diets
of Americans," said Lowe.

The increasing presence of GM crops in the US food chain has led to a
growing 'resistance movement'.

Activists groups have filed a lawsuit in California calling for the
USDA to review its approval of the GM sugar beet, while planting of
Monsanto's alfalfa, also genetically modified to resist Roundup, has
been delayed after a major campaign against the crop in 2006 calling
for a federal environmental review.




  • [Livingontheland] Religious investors call for boycott of GM sugar, Tradingpost, 03/07/2008

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page