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GM Report

What happened to the great GM debate? wonders Patrick Varden.

It's not so long since discussions about genetically modified food were prominent in the Irish media. What ever happened to the great GM DEBATE?

The great GM debate fizzled out in Ireland pretty quickly but it is still a hot topic worldwide. A recent survey in Britain showed that almost 70% of consumers believed that they needed more information to make a judgement on genetically modified foods and 58% said they would avoid GM foods altogether. This survey precedes a public debate due to begin in Britain this autumn and run until June next. The findings will be considered by the Government before making a decision on whether to allow the commercial growing of GM crops.

UK report

The UK Soil Association has issued a damning report on GM crop production in Canada and the USA where three quarters of the world GM crops are produced. It concludes that GM crops are an economic disaster, costing the US economy $12 billion since 1999 in farm subsidies, reduced crop prices and loss of exports. A significant degree of GM contamination has occurred in all areas of food production. In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, practically the entire organic oil seed rape crop has been lost due to contamination. It has become increasingly difficult to source non-GM seed and GM crops are now so widely cultivated that organic farmers risk contamination from neighbouring fields. Many organic farmers have lost their markets and conventional farmers have received lower prices because of contamination. The situation has become totally bizarre with biotechnology companies suing farmers for infringement of patent rights, stating that they have unlicensed GM crops on their land. One non-GM farmer whose crop was contaminated by GMOs was sued by Monsanto for $400,000. Farmers in return are pursuing biotechnology companies for compensation for loss of income and markets. Over 200 groups representing farmers and the organic sector in the US and Canada have called for a moratorium on the introduction of the next planned GM crop.

Higher yields

Promises of higher yields in GM crops have not materialised apart from a small increase in maize yields. The main GM soya variety has yielded 6-11% less than standard conventional crops. Loss of income and export trade has meant higher government subsidies to US farmers.

Another claim - that the use of herbicides would be reduced in GM crops has also proved to be unfounded. The contrary is actually happening. Some crops have been engineered to resist certain herbicides but, rather than the one application initially considered necessary, several sprayings are being made. Weeds are becoming resistant to those herbicides and rogue GM plants growing back after harvesting are cross-pollinating and becoming resistant to a range of herbicides. Farmers have reverted to more frequent applications of more toxic herbicides.

GM food aid

Serious concerns have arisen recently with the discovery that food aid delivered over the past seven years by the UN to African and Central American countries contained GM crops. Most African countries have strongly resisted the introduction of GM crops to the continent. The UN World Food Programme has said that it does not distinguish between GM and conventional crops and it feels no obligation to inform the recipients of aid. Their attitude was summed recently by a spokesman, Trevor Rowe, who said, 'We think the starving would rather eat GM grain than dirt'. Allegations have been made that the US, which supplies half of the world food aid, is dumping GM cereals in Africa because the EU market has rejected their GM crops.

Protests

Meanwhile, closer to home, the trial of nine anti-GM activists is currently taking place in France. They are charged with destroying a GM crop trial near Foix in southern France. Among them is Jose Bove, a well-known farm leader and anti-GM activist. He claims his actions were justified under the European Convention on Human Rights which gives every citizen the right to a safe environment. A similar defence was used successfully by anti-GM activists in Britain a couple of years ago.

Wake up call

Here in Ireland we sometimes look to the US rather than Europe for our influences. With agriculture in such a depressed state at present, farmers could easily be seduced by the promises of biotechnology companies. We too need an informed and wide ranging public debate on the GM issue and the formulation of Government policy arising from that debate.