LONDON - This is not the kind of wrapping anyone would expect to see around Christmas time. But a report from Greenpeace warns of the dangers of toxic wrapping around thousands of turkeys being sold for Christmas.

Samples of turkeys taken from several superstores in Britain ”contained Nonylphenol, a toxic chemical which can interfere with human DNA and affect sperm production in mammals,” says the report.

Quantities of phthalates, which can cause liver, kidney and testicular damage were also detected.

Turkeys sold in two stores were found to contain a toxic chemical called Bisphenol A ”which has been shown to cause genetic damage to mammals and is known to mimic hormones,” the report says.

Greenpeace warns that ”the European Union has recently ordered a drastic reduction in the maximum amount of Bisphenol A used in food packaging amid health concerns.”

The study carried out by a laboratory in the Netherlands says that dangerous chemicals used in the wrapping had migrated to the food. Samples of meat tested at one store which does not use such wrapping were found to be toxin free.

”It's entirely unacceptable for supermarkets to be selling these toxic turkeys stuffed with hazardous chemicals,” said Mark Strutt, Greenpeace toxics campaigner. ”The fact that turkeys from other stores show no sign of these chemicals proves that there are perfectly safe alternatives to these chemicals, and all supermarkets should be using them rather than peddling polluted poultry.”

Strutt called on the government to ”outlaw these unnecessary harmful substances.”

A spokeswoman at a supermarket said that Greenpeace had tested only one fillet from the supermarket. ”The packaging residues found were at minute levels, so there is no cause for customers to be concerned,” she told IPS.

A spokesman at another supermarket called the survey ”wholly unscientific.” The study shows levels of all residues found in the meat are ”well within legal limits,” he told IPS. ”And these are set 100 to 200 times lower than the safety limits for these products.”

The spokesman said Greenpeace was engaging in ”scaremongering” in offering conclusions that were ”irresponsible” and ”ridiculous”.

Strutt told IPS that while Greenpeace had sent several samples to the laboratory in the Netherlands, it had also done a round of pre-testing. ”We found the same levels of chemicals also in chicken and bacon,” he said. ”Our findings were not based on just one test.”

Strutt told IPS it was not possible to say whether the toxin levels were within allowable limits because ”it is not certain that there are any safe levels for these.” Some of these chemicals are ”extremely dangerous”, he said.

Strutt said there was ”no need for these substances to be there at all.” One supermarket chain had ”simply used safer type of wrapping,” he said.

The Greenpeace report follows a campaign by the group earlier over dangerous synthetic chemicals that find their way into household goods such as children's clothing, toys, perfumes, air fresheners and paints.

”They are allowed into these products because there is no legislation saying they shouldn't be,” Greenpeace said in its report.

These chemicals need to be phased out because through their use, wear and tear, and disposal from factories they are released into the environment, the Greenpeace report said. ”The very same chemicals then ultimately make their way into our bodies.”

Greenpeace had found Nonylphenol, the same chemical traced in wrapping for turkeys, also in a set of garments it tested.

Children's garments were found to contain phthalates, which it said are banned from teething toys under emergency legislation. This substance too was reported in the samples tested for wrapping Christmas turkeys.

© 2003 IPS

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