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GM Ban Extended in Tasmania
28 May 2009 "Tasmania's GM-free status is a vital factor for our primary producers, helping them realise their full potential in international and interstate markets," Mr Llewellyn said. Gene Ethics Director, Bob Phelps, said: "The ban until 2014 on Genetically Manipulated (GM) crops, animals and microbes is supported by all political parties and the community. We congratulate all Tasmanians on keeping their state GM-free."American Academy of Environmental Medicine warning on GM Foods
More at: http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html
Natural breeding processes have been safely utilized for the past several thousand years. In contrast, "GE crop technology abrogates natural reproductive processes, selection occurs at the single cell level, the procedure is highly mutagenic and routinely breeches genera barriers, and the technique has only been used commercially for 10 years." Despite these differences, safety assessment of GM foods has been based on the idea of "substantial equivalence" such that "if a new food is found to be substantially equivalent in composition and nutritional characteristics to an existing food, it can be regarded as safe as the conventional food." However, several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.