Blind faith or sound science

Fresh concerns about the safety of GM crops have prompted Friends of the Earth (FOE) Cymru to call on the National Assembly to declare Wales a GM-Free Environment as a matter of urgency. The group is concerned that decisions on GM crops are not being made on 'sound science' as assurances of safety seem to be based more on blind faith in the biotech industry.

The Assembly has to make sure that any GM crops in Wales would not damage the Welsh environment. FOE Cymru says there is no way it can assure the Welsh public of this, based on the UK Government's handling of the GM issue. The Government is currently conducting 'farm scale trials' of GM crops which is intended to assess the environmental impact of the crops. However, FOE Cymru claims that the Government research is not enough to determine any real risks, its attempts to reassure the public are badly organised and unconvincing and some safety assessments of GM crops are inadequate.

Raoul Bhambral, GM Campaigner commented:

" The Government assures us that the farm scale trials are based on 'sound science' yet this is not the case. The trials are not even monitoring effects on organisms fundamental to agriculture, such as earthworms and soil micro-organisms, even though we know that the two main herbicides to be used with GM crops are very harmful to these creatures [1]. What would happen to the soil, and future farming, if we started growing these crops, and using the herbicides on a commercial scale?"

Scientist groups in America have raised fears about the lack of long term monitoring [2], a US official for the Interior Department says genetically modified species could threaten rare US wildlife [3], and farmers in Europe are suspicious that the biotech industry has wriggled out of any responsibility for damage caused by GM crops.

Raoul Bhambral continues,

" If the industry was confident that its crops were safe it would be happy to carry liability for any problems. However, they have lobbied heavily against accepting any responsibility. Farmers groups in Europe see this as a sign that the industry recognises there are real risks [4]. If the industry is not liable for any damage that GM crops may do, then farmers and consumers will have to pay the price. The Assembly must safeguard Wales from any harmful consequences. "

FOE Cymru wants the Assembly to satisfy itself that there are no risks to the Welsh environment, rather than rely on UK Government assurances. This lack of confidence stems from the fact that the Government allowed a GM fodder maize onto the UK market even though it knew that the variety had not been tested for effects on cattle. Despite the Assembly Agriculture Committee being dissatisfied with the seed, Westminster pressure pushed the seed through.

FOE Cymru's GM Campaigner said:

" An independent scientific analysis on one GM crop claimed that the biotech company's safety assessments were 'inappropriate and scientifically flawed' [5]. We also know that some trial results have been manipulated to make certain GM crops look like they performed better than they really did. How can the Welsh public have confidence in future Government assurances of safety unless the Assembly has looked at the issue itself? It can only do this if Assembly Members adopt an environmentally sound policy [6]. "

FOE Cymru has also criticised the Government's attempts to reassure the public on GM trial sites in England. The group claims that numerous farm scale trials have been so badly organised, and meetings to assure the public of the safety of the trials were so shambolic, that public confidence in the UK Government's handling of the issue has been crushed.

Such lack of coordination includes some trial sites being pinpointed in the wrong village, one in the wrong country (Wales), sites being identified at research stations that haven't confirmed their participation, wrong site coordinates being given (last year some sites were located by the Government in the North Sea) and some notices about the sites to inform the public were placed in the wrong or inappropriate papers. Guidelines agreed by the Government aren't even being followed, which state that neighbouring farmers must be alerted to a trial site in their area [7]. This means that there is no consideration of organic farmers or beekeepers, or farmers that are growing non-GM crops. Yet throughout all this the Government says that everything is properly monitored and regulated and assessed.

Raoul Bhambral commented:

" The situation beggars belief. I don't know what the Government is playing at. It is not following it's own guidelines, the public can't trust the results, most safety assessments are terribly inadequate and yet GM is still in our fields and on our plates. The Assembly must do something to ensure that it is convinced genetic modification of crops is safe otherwise the Welsh public will be severely let down. I hope it won't fail us on something as important as this.

" Out of the 57 trials announced so far across the UK, 9 have been scrapped due to intense local opposition. Local communities are enraged that they are not being consulted about the trial sites."

" The Government isn't clear where the Welsh border is either! It accidentally planned a GM trial in Wales, without the Assembly knowing. But fortunately as soon as we raised the alarm the farmer pulled out of the trial. Wales is now GM-crop free again. The Assembly must declare Wales a GM-free Environment before it is too late."

Notes

1a Glyphosate is manufactured by Monsanto to be used with its RoundUp Ready herbicide-resistant GM crops. It is toxic to earthworms, spiders, lacewings, ladybirds, and beneficial fungi (mycorrhizal fungi) and bacteria (nitrogen-fixing bacteria). Reference : Sue Everett, British Wildlife, Volume 11, Number 4, April 2000 - page 295.
1b Glufosinate is manufactured by Aventis (formerly AgrEvo) to be used with its Liberty Link herbicide-resistant GM crops. It is toxic to beneficial soil micro-organisms as well as aquatic animals including freshwater fish. Reference : Pesticides News, issue no. 42, December 1998, the journal of the Pesticides Trust.
2 The Union of Concerned Scientists in America fear that there is insufficient monitoring of the long term health and environmental implications of GM food. Independent Newspapers, 04/05/2000. Written by Mary Dejevsky in Washington.
3 A senior official in the US Interior Department, William Brown, senior adviser to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, has said that rare wildlife in the US could be threatened by transgenic species of plants and animals. GMOs pose new risks to endangered plants, animals. Planet Ark 05/05/2000.
4 The European Farmers' Coordination has accused the biotech industry of knowing the risks of GM crops to be so real that they have wriggled out of liability for any damage that may occur. AGENCE EUROPE, Brussels, 04/05/2000
5 Greenpeace Press Release 03/05/2000. Greenpeace exposes fatal flaws in science on biotech crops.
6 The legal opinion, prepared by Mike Fordham and Kate Gallafent, and commissioned by FOE Cymru was presented to the Assembly on the 9th of March 2000. Counsel advised that the Assembly could lawfully adopt this policy without being successfully challenged in Court :

" The general policy of the Welsh Assembly ... is not to grant such consents [experimental releases of GMOs] unless ... sufficient information is available to the Assembly to enable it to conclude with confidence that the release is not capable of causing damage to the Welsh environment by harming the health of humans or other living organisms or interfering with their ecological systems. However, the Assembly will consider any representations as to whether it should give consent in a particular case, even where the position is otherwise.

7 The experimental design brief for the current round of GM trials, commissioned by the DETR, requires that they follow the 'SCIMAC Guidelines'. These guidelines have been drafted by the Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops (an industry body) to regulate the future commercial growing of GM crops. They include separation distances between GM and non-GM crops, and the requirement that neighbouring farmers be consulted with before GM planting goes ahead." Ref: www.environment.detr.gov.uk/fse