EU BANS GM CONTAMINATED HONEY

FROM GENERAL SALE

Introduction about bee honey

A honeybee starts the honey making process by visiting a

flower and gathering some of its nectar. Many plants use
nectar as a way of encouraging insects (bees, wasps,
butterflies, etc.) to stop at the flower. In the process of
gathering nectar, the insect transfers pollen grains from one
flower to another and pollinates the flower. In making bee
honey, sucrose in nectar is converted to glucose a fructose by
an enzyme of the bee & moisture is evaporated. Honey has an
acidic pH.
Due to the acidic pH & high viscosity, many microorganisms
cannot grow in honey; still some osmotolerants (organisms
which can tolerate high osmotic pressure) can survive. Since
spores of Clostridium botulinum (causative organism of
botulism) could be present in honey, it is not recommended for
babies as a food. Apart from this, pollens from flowers can be
an allergen to some people.( pollens are common air borne
allergens specially to asthma patients).
According to the latest information, the honey is suspected to
be contaminated with the pollens of genetically modified crops
such as corn. Genetically modified crops contain foreign DNA,

which can lead to various health complications according to the

studies. Because of this, most of the people in the world refuse
to use food, which contain genetically modified food
ingredients.

EU Regulations
According to new EU court updates, honey should be labeled as
GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) IF it contains pollens of
genetically modified crops & its safety should be
confirmed before releasing the products into market.
According to the environment friendly organizations (green
groups), this could force EU to standardize their regulations
about genetically modified crops which is almost neglected up
to now.
Beekeepers complain that the honey is contaminated from GM
pollens from a test field (about 500m away) that belong to
Monsanto, a popular biotech company that deals with
cultivation of genetically modified crops. These findings also
threaten the EU legislations which allow traces of GMOs in
animal feed.
Mute Schimpf, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe,
said that the EU legislations which allow traces of GMOs should
be revised.
The only way to prevent honey from getting contaminated by
GM pollen is to stop cultivation GM crops. Since honey making
is a natural process carried out by the bees, it is not possible to
prevent contamination by GM pollen if GM crops are cultivated.
Greenpeace says that the Biotech companies cultivating GM
crops such as Monsanto should be responsible for having to
label the honey products as GM & they call these GM pollen
that contaminate pollen as genetic pollution.

Some scientists claim that, this issue cannot be scientifically

approved & honey is still safe for consumption. They further
explain about BT crops (maize, brinjal) which contain a toxin
naturally produced by a bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis). By
incorporating the gene for production of this toxin from the
bacterium to the crops, has protected it from European Corn
borer. But before the GM crops were developed, these toxins
naturally produced from the bacterium were used as a spray
pesticide few years ago. According to their opinion, these rules
could hinder the opportunity to future innovations &
developments in plant breeding etc.
Vivian Moses, professor of biotechnology at the University of
London and the
chairwoman of Copenhagen, an advisory group on GM foods,
said: The beekeepers have a feeling that customers will not
use honey if they hear about GM pollen & so the beekeepers
are just trying to maintain their economy.
But scientifically, if GM pollens are present in honey it will not
do any harm to human as these GM crops are tested for safety
before approval for cultivation.
In the present, honey is not produced in sufficient amount in EU
for consumption & hence additional honey is imported from
China, Argentina. These two countries believe in GM crops &
are the largest exporters of honey to EU countries.
EU states that there is no health risk from eating honey. And
the regulations are formulated according to court decisions.