Thai consumers get 'Frankenstein food,' Greenpeace says

Asian Economic News, April 16, 2001

BANGKOK, April 10 Kyodo

Thai consumers are unknowingly eating genetically engineered food products because unlabeled gene-modified products are sold in Thai markets, environmental activist group Greenpeace said Tuesday.

Many of the products are from international food companies that have promised to label or remove gene-engineered ingredients in other countries, it said.

Laboratory tests commissioned by Greenpeace confirmed the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in seven daily food items sold in Thai supermarkets, according to a statement from the group.

The GMOs were found in Nestle baby food, Good Time instant cereal, Knorr cup soup, Nissin cup noodle, Lay's Stax potato chips, Pringles snacks and High Class Vita-Tofu soybean curd.

None of the products contained information allowing consumers to determine whether or not they were eating GMO food, the statement said.

''Scientists still do not know the long-term effects of releasing GMOs into our environment and on people's diets. Thai consumers have a right to refuse being treated like guinea pigs in what is a massive experiment with potentially far-reaching and irreversible consequences,'' Auaiporn Suthonthayakorn, campaigner for Greenpeace, said in the statement.

Greenpeace accused the manufacturers of practicing a double standard for rich and poor countries, naming multinational corporations Nestle, Unilever, Pepsi, Nissin, and Procter and Gamble.

''In other countries these same companies are implementing a GMO-free policy in the production of their food commodities and speak in favor of GMO labeling,'' the statement said.

In 1996, Nestle in Germany committed not to use GMOs in their baby food, but the company is selling the products in Thailand without informing mothers about the ingredients, it said.

Thailand has no regulations on labeling gene-modified products.