PRESS RELEASE Dec 7, 2007 Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology (PSRAST) ==================================================================== COMPELLING REASONS TO BELIEVE THAT GENETIC ENGINEERING CAUSED FOOD SUPPLEMENT DISASTER In a disaster about 27 years ago, a tryptophan food supplement killed 37 persons and disabled 1,500 people permanently in a painful chronical disease, the Eosinophilic Myalgia Syndrome (EMS). New evidence indicate that there are compelling reasons to believe that genetic engineering was the cause. It has recently been proven that the former explanation is untenable. It stated that impurities due to insufficient filtering caused the disaster. "There is no other option left but genetic engineering for explaining the appearance of the unexpected very poisonous substance that caused the disaster." This is the conclusion of an analysis by the international NGO "Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology (PSRAST)." The analysis is presented at their website: http://www.psrast.org/demsd.htm PSRAST has sent a message today to the European Parliament, Codex Alimentarius and FAO, warning that any present genetically engineered food may cause another disaster. "The present procedure for assessing the safety of genetically engineered food is insufficient for detecting unexpected poisons that may appear due to genetic engineering," says Dr Jaan Suurkula, M.D., chairman of PSRAST, and refers to their articles "Inadequate safety assessment of GE foods" and http://www.psrast.org/subeqow.htm. "An example of fatal "substantial equivalence" is at http://www.psrast.org/sdsubeqfagan.htm He continues: "It is well established that genetic engineering may cause the appearance of unexpected substances. Therefore, as long as the safety assessment is insufficient, it is only a matter of time before another disaster happens, and because of the widespread usage, this time it would have catastrophic proportions." Therefore, PSRAST concludes that all genetically engineered foods must be withdrawn from the market. ===================================================================== CONTACT: Jaan Suurküla, M.D., Sweden. Temporarily in Estonia - phone: +372-6882758. Email: chairman@psrast.org Website: http://psrast.org