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New Report Shows Risk of GM Contamination

May 30 2005

Tougher measures are needed to prevent contamination of conventional food by genetically modified organisms (GMO), a new report from Friends of the Earth International concludes today. [1] The report was distributed by campaigners in decontamination suits in Montreal at the start of key international negotiations on the trade in genetically modified crops.

The EU impoundment last week of a shipment of illegal US GM maize highlights the urgency of these talks to address the issue of contamination. Key to the talks will be a decision to label shipments if
they contain GM products, a move opposed by the main GMO-producing countries. [2]

The Friends of the Earth report, /Tackling GMO Contamination /makes a series of practical recommendations relevant to the Protocol discussions, including:

• Clear labelling of all shipments that contain GM products
• The right of countries to stop imports of illegal GMOs
• The need to make the biotech industry liable for GM pollution

The report also highlights that:

• 84% of the area cultivated with GM crops is in just 2 countries - United States and Argentina.
• There are already systems to separate crops that could be expanded in North America and other GMO producing countries to aggressively keep GM away from non-GM products.
• The world's leading GMO company, Monsanto, spends millions of dollars on a monitoring and testing programme not for safety reasons - but to protect its own patents.

Juan Lopez, Coordinator of Friends of the Earth's International Programme on Genetic Engineering said:

"These talks are key to protecting the environment and the world's food supply from GM contamination. Most countries growing GM crops on a large scale have not even signed up to the Biosafety protocol, yet they will be at the talks lobbying for weak controls on their products."

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth Canada said:
"Canada, as one of the few countries that grow GM crops must be forced to put in place effective contaminated."

More than 110 countries have signed the United Nations Biosafety Protocol, agreed in 2000 and will be participating in the talks [3].

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