Participants at the GMO-Free Regions Conference in Luzern, April 2009
Over 260 regions, more than 4500 municipalities and other local entities and tens of thousands of farmers and food producers in Europe and Japan have declared themselves “GMO-free” expressing their commitment not to allow the use of genetically modified organisms in the agriculture and food in their territories. Since 2005, the movement of GMO Free Regions in Europe holds an annual meeting.
Consumers Union of Japan, NO! GMO Campaign, Seikatsu Club and Green Coop participated from Japan this year in Luzern, Switzerland. It was the fifth annual conference with 250 participants from 39 countries.
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Conference on GMO-Free Regions, Biodiversity and Rural Development
“When given the choice, people renounce genetically “enhanced” food. When they are given a say, they choose a form of agriculture that works with nature, and without manipulation.”
GMO-Free Zones in Japan as of February 28, 2009
All over Japan, thousands of people are participating in the campaign to create GMO-free zones. So far, over 50,000 ha has been independently declared as GMO-free zones. Note that no GMO crops are grown commercially in Japan, so the entire country is in effect a GMO-free zone!
In the results of an awareness survey conducted by MAFF released on February 24, 2009, nearly 80% of consumers said they would buy non-GM soy foods even if the price were higher. Conducted in September 2008, the survey received replies from 86.3% of the 1500 subjects. The percentage of respondents who said they would not want to consume foods that contained GM soy even if they were cheaper were 78.1% for tofu, 77.9% for natto (a fermented soybean food), and 76% for soy sauce and miso. 60% of respondents said that they choose domestically produced (non-GM) soy products.
(Japan Agricultural Newspaper February 25, 2009)
Source: CBIC Bio Journal
Consumers Union of Japan and the Food Safety Citizens’ Watch are involved in the efforts to get to the bottom of the proposed move of Tsukiji, Tokyo’s famous fish market. FSCW notes that the new site at Toyosu is an old factory site in Koto Ward once operated by Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.
This 40 hectares site was found to be heavily polluted with carcinogenic benzene at levels some 43,000 times higher than permitted, and cyanide compounds found to be some 800 times higher than levels considered safe. Levels of other toxins such as arsenic, lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium were also found to be high at the Toyosu site. Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. operated the plant at Toyasu from 1956 to 1976 to produce city gas from coal. The soil and ground water pollution is a serious side-effect from the industrial manufacturing process.
The Wholesales Co-operatives of Tokyo Fish Market has voted against the relocation as details about the soil contamination were made public. Fish market officials feel that they cannot guarantee the safety of the food in case the market is moved. They have set up the Association to Study Tsukiji Market, and are asking everyone in Tokyo to participate in the campaign against the relocation.
“We can only note here that many questions have been ignored about the proposed new site. The authorities are considering spending an enormous amount of money on decontaminating the soil, but there are no concrete data about safe levels. This is not just a problem for Tsukiji or Toyosu, but for many other polluted factory sites around Japan, ” says Takako Hasuo from the Home Nutrition Research Society and Food Safety Citizens’ Watch.
FSCW: Moving Tokyo’s fish market: Deception and hidden safety problems
The Food Safety Citizens’ Watch was established in April 2003 as a network of experts to monitor developments and make proposals to the government regarding food safety issues from the citizen’s point of view.
Here is the presentation made by Yasuaki YAMAURA, Secretary General of Consumers Union of Japan (CUJ), as one of the programs at the World Foodless Day in Tokyo on October 16, 2008.
The Present Situation of the Food Crisis
In April 2008, rice prices started to increase rapidly in the Philippines and several parts of Asia. This induced hoarding and export restrictions of grains, which in turn led to even higher grain prices around the world. There were food riots happening in a number of countries.
This also affected Japan, as increasing general food prices hit Japanese consumers hard. In addition, we experienced the problem of frozen gyoza made in China, contaminated by a very toxic insecticide. On top of that, there was a scandal of wrongfully distributed pesticide-tainted or moldy rice for human consumption, and melamine-contaminated milk products produced from imported milk. Such events caused deep anxiety among many consumers.
cuj-jr-146 (pdf) Japan Resources No 146
Cold and sunny in Tokyo today – it is February and we are pleased to publish our latest issue of Japan Resources. Read about how Genetically Modified foods are accelerating the global food crisis, our concerns about antimicrobial resistance, and more. Please download the pdf file. – Editors
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