NGOs warn about genetic contamination

The European Commission's (EC) most recent decisions on genetically modified crops have condemned the continent's farms to transgenic contamination, say environmental groups. In a report published Mar. 10 in Brussels, the EC considered it unnecessary to separate conventional and organic crops from genetically modified crops. The EC also deemed illegal any measures to protect sensitive ecosystems against genetically modified organisms (GMOs), also known as transgenic, and threatened to sanction national or regional governments that attempt to ban such crops. "Given the total and irreversible nature of transgenic contamination, the EC report marks the end of traditional and organic farming in Europe," said Arnaud Apoteker, head of the biogenetics campaign for the environmental watchdog Greenpeace in Paris. "The EC is either very naive or completely dishonest." The EC says it is optional for farmers who use transgenic seeds to obtain insurance to cover potential sanctions against them, in case their products genetically contaminate neighboring fields through pollination. The Commission also allows European governments to increase the maximum contamination to 0.9 percent transgenic content in organic or conventional products without risking fines or requiring labeling of products indicating GMO content if the contamination occurs "by chance." "Strict laws against genetic contamination of conventional and organic agriculture are necessary, as is suspending production and sales of GMOs," stressed Apoteker. In January the EC also authorized three new types of genetically modified maize (or corn), including MON 863, whose toxic effects in rats have been demonstrated in laboratory tests. Gilles-Eric Séralini, molecular biology professor at the French University of Caen and author of a study of MON863 effects in rodents, said "the tests revealed an increase in sugar in the blood, as well as anomalies in the quantity of white and red blood cells, and renal lesions" in the animals. Says Helen Holder, GMO campaign coordinator for the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, "the EC continues authorizing imports of transgenics, without laws that protect organic and traditional agriculture against genetic contamination." The French government is drafting a law on GMOs that, according to Greenpeace, ignores all the evidence about their potential threats to health and the environment. But despite the efforts of the EC and of the major biotech multinational corporations, the production and sale of transgenics in Europe is limited. There are no European countries among the world's top 10 producers of GMOs, but there are three South American nations: Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Axel Kruschat, director of the German environmental group BUND, said that fields of transgenic maize represent less than one in a thousand of the total dedicated to growing conventional maize in Germany. In France, transgenic maize is planted on less than 2,500 acres, out of a total of 7,413,00 million acres of maize fields. The genetically modified corn variety grown in France in Germany is known as "bt-maize," because it was grafted with a gene of the Bacillus thuringiensis (bt) to increase its resistance to Ostrinia nubilalis, a larva known commonly as the corn borer. The corn borer is considered the worst corn pest. It begins by feeding on the plant's leaves, then bores into the stalk, developing two or three generations of larvae. Despite its anti-pest benefit, bt-maize is avoided by most German farmers, said Kruschat. "The consumers don't buy genetically modified maize," he explained. Kruschat noted that "Marka, the bt-maize seed distributor in Germany, offers to buy the entire crops of the conventional or organic farmers neighboring the transgenic fields at market price, regardless of their contamination with genetically modified maize. For the farmers, it's an interesting proposal, because they have a sure buyer." Marka thus avoids lawsuits filed by non-bt-maize farmers against its clients whose transgenic crops may cross the legal limits of contamination of nearby fields, according to Kruschat. Andreas Thierfelder, spokesperson in Germany for the agro-tech multinational Monsanto, creator of bt-maize, confirmed this approach in an article in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The French growers of transgenic maize don't sell their harvest at home either–they export it to Spain. According to a survey published in late February by the environmental group Agir pour l'environnement (Action for the Environment), 75 percent of French consumers are opposed to genetically modified foods. The precautions of Monsanto and Marka are justified. Despite the new directive of the EC, the limit for GMO contamination of conventional agricultural products is 0.9 percent. If it is any higher, the product must bear a label stating that it contains GMOs. Katja Moch, a biologist with Germany's Ecological Institute of Freiburg, said that "the maximum limit for genetic contamination in conventional and organic crops is obeyed, but only if the entire non-transgenic harvest is considered at the time of measuring the percentage of its GMO content." As such, those parts of the harvest taken from areas farther away from neighboring transgenic fields have less contamination. "But in reality the farmers don't harvest their entire fields at once. In these partial harvests, the GMO content is frequently higher than 0.9 percent," said Moch. This contamination also occurs as a result of conventional and organic farmers sharing machinery or storage sites with farmers who grow transgenic crops. "Many heavy machines used in farming and shared by several different farmers are difficult to clean, and that permits the dissemination of GMOs," explained Moch. Environmentalists and organic farming activists insist that the maximum limit for GMO contamination must be reduced to 0.1 percent. The European Commission continues to ignore their demands.