Government wonks have once again been druming up support for GM food, the latest tub-thumping courtesy of science minister Ian Pearson. He's been saying that if engineered crops can be demonstrated to alleviate hunger around the world, then the great British public will be only too happy to see them being cultivated in our green and pleasant land as well.
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Those pesky biotech companies never give up. After recently spinning the line that GM crops can be used to safeguard food production from the ravages of climate change, their latest wheeze is to try and convince us that GM technology can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Indian farmers campaigning against GM rice near Lucknow earlier this week © Greenpeace
A couple of GM stories have popped up recently over on our international site, one of which requires your help.
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A tad belated but I just couldn't let this one pass. Last week, these words emerged from France's environmental policymaking forum:
"From now on, every major public project, every public decision will be judged on its effect on climate, and on its carbon cost. Each public decision will be judged on how it affects bio-diversity. The onus won't be on ecological decisions to prove their merit, but on non-ecological projects to prove they can't be done any other way. Non-ecological decisions must be taken as a last resort. It's a total revolution in the way we govern our country."
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With Blair's recent departure, recollections of 1997 in the media have been dominated by two things: his ascension to power and the Spice Girls. On the other side of the world in China, that same year was important for a couple of other reasons. Most famously, the lease ran out on a small but strategic piece of land called Hong Kong and the British Empire lost one of its last outposts as ownership return to the People's Republic of China.
But on that same piece of land, about the same time Chris Patten was bidding a teary farewell, something else significant happened (at least, we like to think it was) - Greenpeace China opened its doors. The importance of this particular office to the organisation can't be underestimated and, as this video shows, many of our campaigns can't help but take China's astonishing economic and social development into account. And with China now possibly the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the next ten years are going to be even busier over there.
Sustainable agriculture in action
London, 15th November 2004 - In a major blow to the future of genetically modified (GM) crops in the developing world, GM company Bayer has announced that it has stopped all its work on creating new GM crops in India. In a letter to Greenpeace Bayer claims that the decision to stop GM research was "due to changes in our global research strategy," and concedes that all work on GM cabbage, cauliflower, aubergine, tomato and mustard seed has stopped. 1 The company will now only concentrate on conventional plant breeding.
Publication date: May 2004
Summary
The US, Canada and Argentina are challenging the European Union's de facto moratorium on the approval of genetically modified (GM) foods and crops.
The Amicus Coalition represents a wide range of environmental, consumer and social justice groups lobbying the World Trade Organisation to prevent countries being forced to accept GM products that their consumers do not want.
GM Soya's tales of the unexpected
Publication date: November 2003
Summary
The proponents of GM crops often refer to the 'precision' of the GM technique. This briefing examines the unintended and unpredictable impacts of genetic modification by looking at the longest standing and most widely planted (largely in USA and Argentina) GM crop - Roundup Ready soya.
GM products
The European Parliament today voted to adopt strict rules that will see all GM foods labelled across the EU. The move is certain to infuriate the Bush administration and GM-lobbyists in the United States, where the European proposal was fiercely opposed. Tony Blair and the Food Standards Agency were also known to oppose the legislation. The comprehensive new rules mean that all food and animal feed containing or deriving from genetically modified organisms will have to be clearly labelled, making it possible for farmers, food producers and consumers to avoid using or eating them.
Ben Ayliffe of Greenpeace said, "Despite the best efforts of Bush, Blair and the GM lobby, consumers have today won a significant victory. For GM enthusiasts who wanted to force this technology down European throats, the new laws are a major setback. They opposed real choice because they know how unpopular their products are. Now Brussels needs to ensure that non-GM farming is protected from contamination, otherwise the labelling laws will be worthless."
Greenpeace is concerned about a compromise amendment on the coexistence issue; member states will not have to impose measures to ensure that GM does not contaminate conventional and organic agriculture. A government as pro-GM as Tony Blair's administration is unlikely to protect non-GM farmers and GM-free food.
The GM industry is attempting to undermine the new EU legislation by pushing for a further law which will allow for contamination of European seeds by GM, without farmers knowing it. If passed it would become harder for farmers to ensure their crops do not eventually exceed the threshold above which food products must be labelled GM. The result would be less and less GM-free food available to consumers, and increased contamination of our environment.
Some have seen today's vote as the signal that the EU's de facto moratorium is ending and that our supermarkets will soon be flooded with GM foods. However, it is worth noting that it is not the de facto moratorium that has stopped GM products from selling in the EU market; GM products are not on sale here because no one wants them. For example, Monsanto's GM soya is currently approved in Europe but has faced massive consumer rejection. Under the new rules, GM products that could previously enter the food chain without consumers knowing it, must now be fully labelled. This means the public has secured their right to reject GM products.
