Fwd: Cynical & Dishonest Science in GM Maize Trials

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Mon, 10 Nov 2003 15:53:54 GMT

 

Cynical & Dishonest Science in GM Maize Trials

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The Institute of Science in Society

Science Society Sustainability

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ISIS Director m.w.ho

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“Cynical & Dishonest Science” in GM Maize Trials

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The maize trials in the UK’s farm scale evaluations (FSEs) have come under fire

for being “misleading”, “worthless” and “a complete waste of time”. Robert Vint

and Lim Li Ching investigate.

 

sources for this article are posted on ISIS Members’ website.

www.i-sis.org.uk\membership

 

The FSEs compared the impact of managing GM herbicide-tolerant crops on farmland

biodiversity, with that of their conventional counterparts. Three spring-sown

crops were examined – beet, oilseed rape and maize. For beet and oilseed rape,

clear negative impacts on farmland biodiversity were found (see “GM crops harm

wildlife”, www.i-sis.org.uk). GM herbicide-tolerant maize, however, was said to

have positive effects, a claim widely highlighted in the media.

 

 

But the maize trials have been called into question.

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Analysis of the methodology reveals systemic bias - underestimating the

environmental impact of the GM crops whilst overestimating the likely

environmental impact of future non-GM cultivation. The failure to measure the

yield of the GM crop makes it impossible to confirm that the cultivation method

was viable. In addition, published yield figures for the GM crop are derived

from cultivation using a different herbicide, adding to the deception.

 

 

 

Environmental damage of GM crop underestimated

***************************************

 

The GM maize used in the FSEs is Chardon LL (Liberty Link) developed by Aventis

(now Bayer CropScience), and engineered to be tolerant to its Liberty herbicide

(glufosinate ammonium). The GM maize herbicide management regime in the FSEs

thus used Liberty, a herbicide less powerful than that used in the non-GM halves

of the fields (see later).

 

 

However, research and farmers’ experience have shown that the GM maize cannot be

grown viably unless Liberty is mixed with other more aggressive herbicides. A

Texas Agricultural Extension Service report, Weed Control in Liberty Link Corn

1996 to 1999 by Brent Bean and Matt Rowland, concludes that a single Liberty

application should not be relied upon for season-long weed control and that

control was greatly improved with the addition of atrazine. Similarly, a 1998

paper by Berzsenyi et al. concluded that in Hungary, “the results of field

experiments showed that a weed management strategy with glufosinate must include

multiple applications, residual herbicides or mechanical control”.

 

 

Of US farmers growing Liberty Link GM maize, 75%-90% now need to use Liberty ATZ

(a more powerful and environmentally harmful tank mix of Liberty and atrazine)

rather than plain Liberty to obtain adequate weed control and maintain yields.

Aventis/Bayer has marketed Liberty ATZ in the US for use on Liberty Link maize

at least since 12 March 2001, as indicated on their product data sheet.

 

 

According to Pesticide Action Network UK, maize farmers in the UK have been

using increasing amounts of atrazine in recent years. It seems highly likely

that if UK farmers grow GM maize, they would want the same mixed formulations as

US farmers - if not mixed with atrazine then with other powerful herbicides.

 

 

Furthermore, the spread of glufosinate-resistant weeds is a potential problem

likely to make the use of Liberty ATZ almost essential in areas where GM maize

has been grown for several years. US researchers have documented the emergence

since 1996 of heritable glufosinate-resistance in ryegrass, goosegrass,

horsetail and waterhemp in areas of high glufosinate (Liberty) use. In the

absence of any UK research on Liberty-resistance in weeds, this must be assumed

to be a likely problem to emerge in the UK.

 

 

If Liberty ATZ or any other Liberty-based herbicide mix was ever licensed for

use in the UK, it would have a much more dramatic effect on biodiversity than

the FSEs suggest.

 

 

The decision to use Liberty alone on the FSEs’ GM maize, rather than Liberty ATZ

or a mixture of Liberty and another herbicide, ensures that there will be more

weeds and wildlife in the GM fields than would be likely under commercial

cultivation and makes it unlikely that a commercially viable yield could be

obtained. It also means that the GM maize plots were subjected to a herbicide

management regime that is likely to quickly become obsolete.

 

 

This flaw was highlighted as early as 25 June 2002 in a BBC Newsnight programme

‘Weeds fight back’, and subsequently in The Times and Farmers Guardian, but no

action seems to have been taken by the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)

overseeing the FSEs to correct this or even to discuss the matter. Furthermore,

Aventis/Bayer must have known that Liberty on its own was ineffective, as it was

already recommending in other countries that its Liberty ATZ be used in

conjunction with its GM maize.

 

 

Subsequently, Brian Johnson, biotechnology adviser to the Government’s advisory

body English Nature, commented, “If I were being cynical I would say that

Aventis told the government that only GA [glufosinate ammonium] would be used on

these crops in the hope that more weeds would survive in the LL [Liberty Link]

crops in the FSEs. If so, and I have no idea that this is right, then they could

argue that the GM crops were better for the environment! They might then gain

marketing consent for LL crops, only for the company then to change the

pesticide recommendations to ATZ-type tank mixes.”

 

 

Environmental damage of non-GM crop overestimated

*****************************************

 

The non-GM control crops in the FSEs were cultivated commercially by the farmers

for sale or for feeding to their own dairy cows. In the overwhelming majority of

cases, atrazine - a particularly toxic and persistent herbicide - was used on

the conventional maize plots.

However, atrazine is now to be banned by the EU, a decision expected for several

years because of its environmental impact. It was already banned in Austria,

Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. This destroys the

validity of the maize trials, as they no longer reflect the real conditions

under which non-GM crops will be grown. Atrazine’s replacement is likely to be

less harmful to the environment.

 

 

The use of atrazine on the non-GM crop thereby misleadingly gives the impression

that the GM crop is relatively benevolent.

Michael Meacher, who as Environment Minister commissioned the trials, said “The

ban on atrazine means that the trials are no longer valid because they no longer

make a true comparison between the herbicides that would be used on GM and

conventional maize… I do not see how the Government can now responsibly license

GM crops.”

 

 

Yield of GM crop not measured and may not be commercially viable

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The suitability or otherwise of the herbicide regime used on the GM crop cannot

be assessed because the crop yield was not measured. The FSEs were supposedly

designed to mimic expected future UK commercial farming practice with GM crops,

but FARM, the Independent Farmers’ Union, argues that because no attention was

paid to yield the maize trials cannot be shown to reflect normal commercial

practice. Furthermore, there is no way of knowing whether commercial farmers

would have been satisfied with this level of weed control or with the starch or

dry matter yield of the resultant crop.

The measurement of biodiversity, which the FSEs studied, is a complex and

time-consuming task. But the measurement of yield - which could be as simple and

quick as weighing the crop or the cobs - was not even attempted in these £5.5

million trials. The farmers hosting the trials were merely asked to ‘estimate’

the success of the crop without providing any evidence!

 

 

Independent observers of the FSEs have reported low yields and fields full of

weeds in the GM maize plots, raising suspicion that the GM crops were managed to

limit adverse effects on wildlife, and not to maximise commercial yields. The

results are thus irrelevant to farmers, who would not accept such yield

penalties. The absence of yield measurements further increases suspicion that a

deliberate attempt was made to conceal the commercial unviability of the

herbicide regime selected.

 

 

Reported yield figures for GM crop based on different herbicide regime

*******************************************

 

The principal measurements of yield and dry matter reported for Chardon LL are

derived from the National Seed List trials, which, in common with non-GM

varieties, were grown using atrazine. However, as Chardon LL was engineered for

use with Liberty, these figures are irrelevant and almost certainly misleadingly

high. Most of the GM maize trials were treated with only one spray of Liberty at

rates averaging just 3.5 litres of glufosinate per hectare (FSE report, p.

1815), allowing weeds to flourish, whereas a maximum total dose of 8 litres of

glufosinate per hectare was permitted in the efficacy trials to efficiently kill

weeds (PSD Notice 1123).

 

No green light for GM maize

***************************

 

John Sherrell, FARM founding member and South West dairy farmer, said: “These

trials are completely useless for working farmers. Not only have they been

invalidated by the use of the now banned herbicide atrazine, but they also

provide no evidence of how these crops would perform under practical commercial

conditions. It is amazing how the Government are trying to force farmers to grow

these crops without providing the information farmers need.”

GM Free Cymru has accused the SSC, which oversaw the FSEs, the Department for

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and its scientific advisor, the

Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), of scientific fraud in

the GM maize trials. In their view, the SSC should have recommended the

cancellation of the maize trials as soon as it discovered that they were not

replicating commercial management regimes.

 

 

Needless to say, the maize trials did not assess other important questions such

as the threat posed to organic and other non-GM maize crops via pollen

contamination, or the rate of emergence of Liberty-resistant weeds.

 

 

These flaws, in combination, render the FSEs of GM maize misleading and

worthless. Ian Panton of GM Free Cymru said, “It would be an act of gross

irresponsibility and negligence should the Government seek to authorise the

commercialisation of GM maize on the basis of this cynical and dishonest

science.”

 

 

 

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General Enquiries sam

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