The
Managing Director
Spar
PO Box 1589
Pinetown 3600
18
September 2007
Email:
wayne.hook@spar.co.za
Customer Service hotline: 0860-7000
Sir,
The
South African Freeze Alliance on Genetic Engineering (SAFeAGE) representing
3.6 million South African consumers, writes to express our grave concerns at
the Spar policy on your website regarding GM (genetically modified) foods.
Your
policy contains several worrying inaccuracies, and there are some statements
that we consider to be misleading to consumers in a manner that could expose
Spar to future liability as a result of unintended negative effects of GM
foods.
In
particular we wish to draw your attention to the following erroneous
statements contained in your policy:
- Genetically
Modified Organisms are only one
aspect of biotechnology. They are NOT ‘biotechnology’ as a whole.
To attribute the benefits of biotechnology to genetic engineering and
GMOs, amounts to the colonizing of biotechnology built on centuries of
indigenous knowledge and practices.
- It
is also inaccurate and misleading to state that genetically modified
plants will yield improved food supply, quality and nutritional values. None of these claims have been verified by independent
experts. Your information
appears to come directly from the producers and distributors of these
products without any proper consideration for the responsibility that your
organization has to provide objectively verified information to its
customers. It is also apparent that Spar has not objectively examined the
matter. Had it done Spar would realize that the predominance of
independent scientific studies (that is non industry-funded science) has
found that GMOs are fraught with numerous risks and difficulties.
The science behind genetic engineering is fundamentally flawed as
it is based on the outdated premise that one gene = one protein, rendering
the outcomes imprecise and unpredictable. (See attached sheet Annexure I
on the flawed science)
- The
most serious inaccuracy in your policy is the statement that the modified
maize and soy that are presently on the market cannot harm us in any way.
Your claims that these foods can be safely eaten and digested without any
side effects are unsubstantiated. SAFeAGE represents 3.6 million consumers
who support us in liaising with retailers about labelling GM Food.
According to our extensive research (funded by our members and sponsors)
the predominant weight of evidence reveals that, contrary to your claims,
there are many aspects of these foods that make them unsafe. We inform you of this so you can take preventative
action against future legal action, as we deem our sharing of this
information with you to constitute your being duly informed of a more
balanced body of evidence.
In support of this concern, we draw your attention to a recent complaint
lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by one of our
members for an advert placed in You
magazine by Monsanto, which contained the following claim in relation to
GM foods:
“This is one of the most extensively tested and controlled types of
food, and no negative reactions have ever been reported.”
The
complaint resulted in the ASA ruling that the claim was false.
Monsanto was informed that their claim was unsubstantiated and
in breach of the ASA Code of Practice. The ASA further ruled that as the claim
was unsubstantiated it was not necessary to consider whether it was
misleading. Monsanto was ordered to immediately withdraw their claim and
was warned that in future they must make sure that they can substantiate any
claims before they publish them. The same warning applies to all advertisers
and retailers such as Spar.
In January, this year, Monsanto was fined 15,000 euros (19,000 US dollars)
by a French court for misleading the public about the environmental impact of
its herbicide Roundup. Again the
advertisement was ordered
to be withdrawn due to the fact that it was false (See http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8052
for further details.)
- Contrary
to statements in the Spar policy, there are NO GM crops authorized for
release that have been modified to be drought-resistant. Whilst ongoing
research is underway on this matter permission to release these products
for general consumption is a long way off.
- We
question the statement in the Spar policy that no crop is approved for
growth without at least 6 seasons (years) testing.
According to the existing body of non industry-funded research,
this is not correct as some GM crops have been approved in South Africa
after only TWO seasons of field trials. We question the statement that
safety tests have been performed on humans because we do not know of any
such tests having been done. Please state your sources. As your products
are sold for human consumption we again draw your attention to the
unsubstantiated nature of your claim.
- There
has, to date, not been a single Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
undertaken for any GMO in South Africa.
To state that this has been done, is misleading to your customers. Currently the Department of Environmental Affairs and
Tourism (DEAT) are in the process of investigating the matter.
- It
is correct that the Department of Health (DOH) has a mandate that includes
regulating GM food labelling. However,
this mandate has been severely curtailed by the Department of Agriculture
(DOA), resulting in the existing labelling regulations under the Foodstuffs
and Cosmetics Act being insubstantial. In recognition of this, the Department of Trade and
Industry included in the Consumer Protection Bill more extensive
provisions that required mandatory labelling of GM foods. Due to pressure apparently brought to bear by DOA and
other interested and affected parties on the committee drafting the
Consumer Protection Bill, these draft provisions have since been removed
from the Bill. There is
further no requirement for mandatory labelling of GMO foods in the GMO
Act, which falls under the mandate of the DOA.
The stance adopted by the DOA stems from its support for and
protection of the application of biotechnology in commercial agriculture.
However, this protection and support is often at the expense of the
public’s right to know, and rides roughshod over the increasing consumer
concerns raised in South Africa and internationally.
Forward thinking retailers such as Woolworths have recognized the
importance of consumers’ rights to information, and are in the process
of developing labeling policies that accord with the rights of consumers.
In
light of the above, SAFeAGE is conducting a consumer-driven (as opposed to a
legislation-driven) demand for all South African food retailers to label
GMO’s in recognition of the fundamental role consumers play in the business
of food retailing.
Our
members do NOT want to hear that retailers are prepared to put the health and
wellbeing of Spar customers and
their families at risk by failing to take adequate measures to label GM foods.
We
remind you that this letter constitutes notice of the inaccuracies in the
existing Spar policy and also draws your attention to the potential for
negative impacts of GM food, which exposes Spar to the possible risk of legal
liability in the event that consumers are misled by the current Spar policy
and suffer negative or undesirable effects from the use of GM foods.
We therefore call on Spar to:
- Immediately
take action to rectify the deceptive and misleading statements in its GM
food policy;
- Guarantee
consumers that the soy and maize-based HOUSE BRANDS are GM Free. By GM
Free we mean contains no more than 0.9% GM, which is an internationally
agreed threshold. Spar must
verify this claim by obtaining a certificate of analysis or other suitable
evidence from suppliers to confirm that they utilise identity preservation
(IP) systems. There should additionally be independent verification of
these claims by random testing of products, in order to protect Spar
against legal liability for the unsubstantiated claims of its suppliers.
- Begin
random testing of products that are labeled positively or negatively for
GM content, so as to hold Spar suppliers accountable for labelling their
products accurately and protect Spar against legal liability for
unsubstantiated claims of its suppliers.
Lastly
we would like you to know that we are running two consumer campaigns: the
first calls on retailers to label GM foods and this letter to Spar forms part
of the campaign. The second
campaign is focused on the creation of a ‘Proudly Safeage’ website
that will list the GM threshold of foods that we will be testing from randomly
selected house-brand products. The
aim of this campaign is to offer consumers accurate information so they can
exercise their rights to choose, as
well as to be able to utilise their buying power in accordance with their
concerns about GM foods.
We end
by saying that SAFeAGE enjoys the representation of 3.6 million South African
consumers who have mandated us to liaise with Spar and other food retailers
regarding the labelling of GM foods in your stores.
Yours
sincerely,
Charmaine
Treherne
National Coordinator
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