GM pigs on your dinner table
GMWatch, 20 February 2010

It seems the Candian Government regulatory body Environment Canada is about to announce that the University of Guelph has successfully satisfied the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, allowing GM "Enviro" pigs to be "produced using approved containment procedures." (Enviropig moves ahead)

This brings GM pigs a step closer to North American dinner tables. But if anyone takes any comfort from those "approved containment procedures", consider how many times containment has broken down even at an experimental, rather than commercial, stage of production.

For instance, when nearly 400 GM pigs used in biotech research entered the U.S. food supply, the FDA said "it could not verify the researchers' claim [that the pigs weren't dangerous] because they failed to keep enough records." (US biotech researchers careless with 386 pigs - FDA)

And there have been previous problems in Canada - funnily enough, at the University of Guelph!

"One year ago, several genetically altered pigs ended up in Canadian poultry feed. Researchers at the University of Guelph in southern Ontario discovered 11 dead [GM] piglets were mistakenly sent to a rendering plant." (US biotech researchers careless with 386 pigs - FDA)

The year before that we had:

"Tainted pork from genetically altered pigs stolen from the University of Florida showed up in sausage served at a funeral in High Springs, university police said.

"The stolen pigs were genetically engineered to develop a disorder similar to diabetic blindness in humans. University officials do not know what effect, if any, the treated meat could have on people who eat it.

"The pig incident is one in a series of missteps at the university's Animal Resources department which oversees the treatment of biomedical research animals." (Tainted pigs show up in sausage at funeral)

Pigs themselves were put at risk by a lab break out just a year later:

"WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance of genetically altered bacteria fatal to pigs that appear to have been stolen from a research laboratory at Michigan State University.

"Investigators said that while the bacteria apparently are harmless to humans, they could devastate the pork industry if replicated and released, and they are treating the case as a potential terrorist threat." (Authorities Probe Case Of Missing Bacteria)

And then of course that same year there was: Alarm as GM pig vaccine taints US crops.

Non-GM pork anyone?

You'll be lucky!