Hope Not Hype - Third World Network

Presence
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see also Uribarri et al., 2007), including wound healing retardation (Peppa et al., 2003) in
diabetics, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (Elliott, 2006). Lysinederived
AGEs have been linked to cancer (Heijst et al., 2005). Higher levels of AGEs
have also been detected in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) patients, but the cause and
consequences are unknown (Freixes et al., 2006). Glycation can increase the longevity of
peptides in the intestine, possibly contributing to glycoxidation-implicated diabetes-related
autoimmunity (Elliott, 2006).
LY038 and its derivatives have the potential to boost AGE exposure from all foods
that have a corn component, including many processed foods which are heated to high
temperatures.
Processing of some ready-to-eat cereals, which includes heating at temperatures over 230°C,
may explain the high AGE content of these products. Also, many cereals and snack-type
foods undergo an extrusion process under high pressure to produce pellets of various shapes
and densities. This treatment causes major chemical changes, thermal degradation,
dehydration, depolarization, and recombination of fragments all of which can promote
glycoxidation (Goldberg et al., 2004, pp. 1288-1289).
People in different countries are also exposed to different risks because of their
culture or circumstances (also see Appendix Three for a related discussion). For example,
Mexicans and Africans eat significantly more corn per capita than do New Zealanders
(Table 4.5). The proportion of daily protein from corn for an African is 40 times that for
New Zealanders (Table 4.5). A protein- or amino-based food hazard is therefore a
quantitatively different risk for Mexicans and Africans than it is for Americans and New
Zealanders. That is why international food safety guidelines (such as those developed
under the Codex Alimentarius Commission) allow consumption patterns to be taken into
account.
Information about the known patterns of use and consumption of a food, and its derivatives
should be used to estimate the likely intake of the food derived from the recombinant-DNA
plant. The expected intake of the food should be used to assess the nutritional implications
of the altered nutrient profile both at customary and maximal levels of consumption. Basing
the estimate on the highest likely consumption provides assurance that the potential for any
undesirable nutritional effects will be detected. Attention should be paid to the particular
physiological characteristics and metabolic requirements of specific population groups such
as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, the elderly and those with chronic diseases
or compromised immune systems (Codex, 2003, p. 19).
Mexicans who live in New Zealand but retain their cultural consumption patterns
may be overlooked if a regulator only bases food hazard on per capita (customary)
consumption. For example, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) discounted
food hazards from LY038 based in part on average consumption data: