Rense: 2/3's of ALL Crops in US Now GM Contaminated

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Two-Thirds Of ALL Crops

In US Now GM Contaminated

By Geoffrey Lean

The Independent - UK

(First published 3-7-4)

5-10-4

 

More than two-thirds of conventional crops in the United States are

now contaminated with genetically modified material - dooming

organic agriculture and posing a severe future risk to health - a

new report concludes.

 

The report - which comes as ministers are on the verge of approving

the planting of Britain's first GM crop, maize - concludes that

traditional varieties of seed are " pervasively contaminated " by

genetically engineered DNA. The US biotech industry says it is " not

surprised " by the findings.

 

Because of the contamination, the report says, farmers unwittingly

plant billions of GM seeds a year, spreading genetic modification

throughout US agriculture. This would be likely to lead to danger to

health with the next generation of GM crops, bred to produce

pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals - delivering " drug-laced

cornflakes " to the breakfast table.

 

The report comes at the worst possible time for the Government,

which is trying to overcome strong resistance from the Scottish and

Welsh administrations to GM maize.

 

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee drew attention to

the problem in North America in a report published on Friday, and

said the Government had not paid enough attention to it. The MPs

concluded: " No decision to proceed with the commercial growing of GM

crops [in Britain] should be made until thorough research into the

experience with GM crops in North America has been completed and

published " . It would be " irresponsible " for ministers to give the

green light to the maize without further tests.

 

Peter Ainsworth, the committee chairman, accuses the Cabinet

of " great discourtesy " to Parliament by making its decision on the

maize last Thursday, the day before the report came out, and plans

to raise the issue with the Speaker of the House.

 

This week's statement by Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for

the Environment, is expected to fall short of authorising immediate

planting of the maize, and provide only a muted endorsement for the

technology. She will make it clear that the Government wants the GM

industry to compensate farmers whose crops are contaminated. This

could make cultivation uncommercial. The US study will increase the

pressure on her to be tough.

 

Under the auspices of the green-tinged Union of Concerned

Scientists, two separate independent laboratories tested supposedly

non-GM seeds " representing a substantial proportion of the

traditional seed supply " for maize, soya and oilseed rape, the three

crops whose modified equivalents are grown widely in the United

States.

 

The test found that at " the most conservative expression " , half the

maize and soyabeans and 83 per cent of the oilseed rape were

contaminated with GM genes - just eight years after the modified

varieties were first cultivated on a large scale in the US.

 

The degree of contamination is thought to be at a relatively low

level of about 0.5 to 1 per cent. The reports says

that " contamination ... is endemic to the system " . It

adds: " Heedlessly allowing the contamination of traditional plant

varieties with genetically engineered sequences amounts to a huge

wager on our ability to understand a complicated technology that

manipulates life at the most elemental level. " There could

be " serious risks to health " if drugs and industrial chemicals from

the next generation of GM crops got into food.

 

Lisa Dry, of the US Biotechnology Industry Association, said that

the industry was " not surprised by this report, knowing that pollen

travels and commodity grains might co-mingle at various places " .

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=498693