Press Notice from GM Free Cymru
Friday 19 September 2003: immediate release
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Coexistence is impossible, say GM opponents
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The "coexistence scenario" by which GM crops and non-GM crops (in
conventional and organic farming systems) can be grown in the same region
is
pure fantasy, according to the Welsh watchdog body GM Free Cymru.
European Commission GM policy over the last few months has been directed
towards putting in place measures which will ensure that farmers can use
whichever types of crops suit them so long as coexistence rules are
followed. These rules have not been properly formulated, and the drafting
of them will now be undertaken not by Brussels but by the member states.
This gives member states the right effectively to remain GM-free, and it is
likely that the rules will vary from one nation to another and possibly from
one region to another.
Commenting on the new "coexistence guidelines", GM Free Cymru spokesman
Brian John said: "What we now have in the European GM debate is a shambles.
European consumers do not want GM crops and food, and nobody needs them
either. They are not even needed for the alleviation of world hunger.
They
are expensive, unstable and damaging to the environment, and there is still
no evidence whatsoever to support the premise that GM food is safe to eat.
So the Commission is playing silly games, simply in order to keep the
biotechnology multinationals, the
Commission maintains the pretence that GM crops can and must coexist with
non-GM varieties, in the full knowledge that coexistence is impossible from
a practical point of view. On this issue, as on many others, the Commission
has betrayed European consumers and has sanctioned a gigantic experiment
with the European environment and with the health of those who will
inadvertently eat GM food."
The European approach to GM has been centred on labelling, contamination
thresholds, and on the use of recommended separation distances between GM
crops and non-GM related varieties. However, numerous studies have shown
that cross-contamination and interbreeding is inevitable, and that it is
almost impossible to enforce the strict GM crop management regimes which
should be adhered to by farmers. Many researchers now believe that GM
contamination thresholds in planted seed, harvested crops and in animal and
human food may be met for a few years at best, and that thereafter
contamination will spiral out of control. "We must not allow this
to
happen, even if the EU Commission and the UK Government appear indifferent,"
sayd Dr John. "We urge politicians and
campaigners alike to recognize the
coexistence scam for what it is, and to ensure that regulations are brought
in all over Europe which will effectively prevent unwanted
GM crops from
being planted."
GM Free Cymru has written to Secretary of State
Margaret Beckett many times
on this issue, and she has not replied. Members of the Group now believe
that even if GM fields are accurately located via 6-figure grid references,
if bio-hazard notices are placed on all GM sites, if the wind stops blowing
and if bees stop flying, and if "ideal" GM crop management systems
are
perfectly adhered to, GM contamination above the 1% threshold level is
absolutely inevitable within a few years.
ENDS
Notes:
1. The work which NIAB has done in the
particularly dangerous and cannot be contained. Dr Jeremy Sweet's comments
confirm that it will be impossible over a
period of years to retain the integrity of either conventional or organic
oilseed rape plantings, such is the speed of GM out-crossing.
In Brussels
on 11th September, referring to GM oilseed rape, he said: "We need a
lot
more data on how pollen is distributed and how it moves and contaminates
fields. GMOs can persist in one field from one year
to another, even from
one decade to another. Just one seed per square meter could lead to 100%
contamination."
2. At a GM meeting in Aberystwyth on 16
April 2003 Dr Sweet said: "We do
have to accept the fact that once GM oil seed rape is commercialised it will
be everywhere and that is inevitable, because conventional rape is
everywhere. There is no reason why its going
to behave differently from
conventional rape. So once we start growing GM rape it will become as
widely dispersed as conventional rape."
3. The following key sources of GM pollution indicate that long-term
"coexistence" will be impossible:
(a). GM seed in birdseed -- there is potential contamination all over
the
and Dr Linda Smith at DEFRA has refused to do anything to check the scale
of
contamination.
(b). Cross-pollination over distances which
vary from one GM variety to
another with flowering times,local landscape characteristics,
wind regimes
etc. Also seed transport by surface runoff and
stream flow. This is well documented by studies in all areas where GM
has
been grown. In the
stage where the situation can be rectified.
(c). Lax biosecurity
with seed drilling and harvesting equipment, which
moves about widely because of small farms and large-scale use of contractors
and machinery rings. There are now 15 machinery rings in the
figures from the
attention to GM biosecurity guidelines. It
was difficult enough to get
farmers to follow the guidelines during the FSE programme;
it will be
impossible under normal "commercial" conditions.)
(d). Lax biosecurity
with seed transport onto a GM farm and transport of
seed away from farm following harvest. Again this is well documented
from
North America as a cause of pollution. (The Percy Schmeiser
case is
relevant.)
(e). Potential for contamination carried by
farm animals and wild animals
including roe deer, birds, bees, foxes and badgers. (This has come up over
and again during the FSE programme, and neither DEFRA nor anybody else has
sought to control the situation. There have not been any prosecutions
of
farmers who have allowed animal access onto GM crop sites.)
(f). Ramblers and riders wandering across GM
farmland and onto non-GM
farmland. Density and usage of footpaths is important here. Could
also be
health / allergy effects for sensitive individuals.
Seeds on muddy boots,
horses' hooves, pollen on clothing? (The recent article in Country Walking
magazine is relevant. "Walkers in GM scare" -
COUNTRY WALKING Sept 2003).
(g). Segregation of GM and non-GM seed stocks at the silos of the big
seed
merchants is impossible, and in the United States it is now impossible
to guarantee the purity of maize seed supplied to conventional or
organic farmers. (See "Industry struggles with biotech corn", Associated
Press, by Jim Paul --
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2003/08/27/industry_struggles_with_b
iotech_corn/
4. The apparent willingness on the part of the Government to allow GM
contamination of organic crops is interesting given this statement:
Jeff
Rooker, MAFF minister of state for food safety in
the
House of Commons, 30th July 1998: "I want to make it absolutely
clear that
my Ministry and DETR will be working with the farming community and >
representatives of organic farming to ensure that the expansion of organic
farming is not compromised by the introduction of GM crops.......I want
to make it clear that that is the most important sentence that I shall
say this evening. I genuinely mean that - those are not words to be put
in Hansard and forgotten about; I shall follow through.......it
would be
stupid for the Government to push more money into converting to organic
farming while allowing the farmers who take that brave step
to be damaged by other actions within the process that
I have described."
ENDS
Contact: Dr Brian John, spokesman for GM Free Cymru,
tel 01239-820470, fax 0 1239-821245