GMW: JAPAN 2004 - REVIEW OF THE YEAR

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GMW: JAPAN 2004 - REVIEW OF THE YEAR

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Tue, 4 Jan 2005 19:41:19 GMT

 

 

GMW: JAPAN 2004 - REVIEW OF THE YEAR

http://www.gmwatch.org

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR: JAPAN 2004

 

Here's another GM Watch review of the past year.

 

The third in this series is on Japan. It also refers to the 'Rice is

Life' tour of China. The author, Akiko Frid, took part in that tour.

 

Since 1998 Akiko has been a regular contributor to the monthly

newsletter of the Japanese campaign group, NO! GMO Campaign.

http://www.no-gmo.org/

no-gmo

 

Akiko is also a translator for Japan's Citizens' Biotechnology

Information Center (CBIC)

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/

cbic

 

For links to other articles in the REVIEW OF THE YEAR series, see below

this article.

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The anti-GMO movement in Japan in 2004

 

Consumers in Japan have been very active opposing GMO since 1996, and

have achieved several notable victories over the years, including the

successful citizens' campaign to stop Monsanto's GM rice in Aichi

prefecture in December 2002 - " Monsanto failed halfway in developing

herbicide tolerant rice in Japan "

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/~cdu37690/gmonews.htm

 

In December 2003 there was a similar victory in Iwate prefecture -

" Citizens succeed in stopping Iwate prefecture's GM rice! "

http://www.no-gmo.org/new/2003/12-3-2.htm

 

And in 2004, there came the most remarkable victory of all, after

Japanese consumers visited Canada and the USA to present a petition

opposing

the commercialisation of GM wheat to the Canadian federal government

and a state government of the USA (North Dakota). The petition was signed

by 414 organizations representing over 1.2 million Japanese people. The

headline says it all, " Monsanto suspends development of herbicide

resistant GM wheat " .

http://www.no-gmo.org/new/2004/510e.htm

 

People power brought the global biotech juggernaught to a grinding

halt. And Keisuke Amagasa from NO! GMO Campaign pointed out that the

extraordinary level of consumer resistance in Japan to the new GM crop

arose

from what people in Japan had already had to suffer, " If GM wheat is

approved and cultivated in both countries, which provide Japan with most

of the wheat imports, our dining tables will be exposed once again to

the risk of occupation by Monsanto GM wheat, just as they are now under

occupation by the GM soybean. " - " International Solidarity to Oppose GM

Food " - http://www.no-gmo.org/new/2004/4316.htm

 

The Japanese diet has been polluted by Monsanto's GM soybeans since the

Japanese government first approved Monsanto's herbicide tolerant

soybean for import into the country in 1996. At first, it was only

approved

for animal feed (1996), but later (2001) it was approved for food use as

well. http://www.s.affrc.go.jp/docs/sentan/guide/edevelp.htm

 

In Japan, soybeans are used for traditional home cooking. People eat

soybeans all the time. To give you an example, I personally like eating

tofu (soybean curd), natto (fermented soybeans), abura-age (fried tofu)

and okara (bean curd refuse) when I eat rice, together with miso-shiru

(bean paste soup). Miso is fermented soybean paste and it is used for

different dishes as flavour enhancer as well. Just like syoyu (soy

sauce), we use soybean based products a lot every day.

 

That is why consumers demanded from the beginning that GM food be

properly labelled, but the Japanese labelling standard, which came into

force in April 2001, was not satisfactory for consumers, since it only

covers " ingredients that are ranked within the top 3 constituents in

terms

of the ratio of weight they occupy, and the weight ratio of which

account for 5 or more percent of the total " .

http://www.maff.go.jp/soshiki/syokuhin/hinshitu/organic/eng_yuki_gmo.pdf

 

As a result, only 30 products are subjected to the standard. This is

nowhere near enough for Japanese consumers, who want to avoid eating GM

foods altogether. To make matters worse, most of the GMO ingredients are

used for soy sauce and cooking oil, which are not covered by the

labelling standard. A recent survey that was conducted in Hokkaido

prefecture

showed, " 82.5% of respondents feel more or less insecure about eating

GM foods " .

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/english/2004/journal0412.html

 

A further problem with the Japanese GM food labelling standard is that

it is ok to label something as " not produced with GM ingredients " , even

if the product contains up to 5 % GM ingredients! This is completely

misleading for consumers.

 

Unsurprisingly, on 4 August 2004, The National Consumer Affairs Center

of Japan announced that they had found GM genes in over 60% of tofu

products labelled " non-use of GM soybeans "

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/english/2004/journal0410.html

 

NO! GMO Campaign also checked some tofu products that also bore the

" non-use of GM soybeans " label, and discovered that while products that

were also labelled " domestic soybeans " were clear of GM contamination,

others did have traits of GM soybeans. Asahi shimbun, one of the leading

national newspapers in Japan, published an article on September 15,

2004, about this news headlined " a natural scepticism over GM food

labelling - - why 'non-use' even though it contains (GM)? " (unofficial

translation).

 

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) told Asahi

shimbun, " Even though ingredients are segregated, a certain level of

co-mingling would occur, therefore, when the standard was made, we

conducted a test to see how much comtamination occurred among the

segregated

products, then decided to set a threshold of 5%, which was thought

workable in practice " .

 

However, a tofu maker told Asahi shimbun that they had introduced their

own regular spot-check that could detect even 0.01% contamination. This

tofu maker is using Canadian soybeans and always demands a written

guarantee that it is purchasing NON-GM soybeans. A food labelling adviser

told Asahi shimbun, " A review of the standard is needed " .

 

Asahi shimbun also interviewed NO! GMO Campaign's Keisuke Amagasa who

warrned that the problem of GM comtamination would only worsen over

time. The NO! GMO Campaign, as well as many other consumers groups all

over

Japan, are demanding that the government revise the threshold to be at

least the same as the EU level, which is currently set as 0.9%.

 

Keisuke Amagasa also pointed out that conventional seeds are under

serious thread of increasing GM pollution - and so too is

biodiversity. In

Japan, it has been reported that GM oil seed rape (OSR - also known as

canola) was found growing wild in several areas around ports. There are

10 ports in Japan where OSR seeds are imported from Canada. Among the

10, GM OSR has so far been confirmed as growing around 6 of the ports by

local citizens groups including:

- Stop GM Seeds Network Japan

http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/Seeds-Network/frame-new.htm

- GMO Information Service Japan

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/~cdu37690/

- Anti-GM Rice Farmers Network

http://www.kit.hi-ho.ne.jp/sa-to/

 

Related articles can be found here:

- GM rapeseed found around ports (The Japan Times, Nov 21, 2004)

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041121a9.htm

- GM corn, soybeans found growing wild (The Japan Times, Dec 14, 2004)

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041214a1.htm

- Rapeseed, corn, and soybean grown wild in Shimizu Port in Shizuoka

(JCPRESS, Dec 20, 2004)

http://www.jc-press.com/En/Latest%20News/200412/20041214Genetically%20modified%2\

0grain%20pollution%20by%20Monsanto.htm

 

As you can see, Japanese consumers are not only concerned about eating

GM foods, but are also worried about GM pollution. A research team lead

by Nobuyoshi Nakajima at the National Institute for Environmental

Studies (NIES), conducted an investigation on GM canola (OSR)

pollution. The

purpose of the research is to find out:

1) how much GM canola actually exists in the environment;

2) whether herbicide tolerant genes have spread to wild species.

 

According to Nobuyoshi Nakajima, OSR (Brassica napus) easily

intercrosses with closely related species which Japanese people eat, e.g.

rapeseed (Brassica ceae), celery cabbage, turnip, brown mustard, leaf

mustard.

 

GM OSR has been spilt both around the port areas and secondary roads,

presumably during transportation. See a picture taken by Nakajima's

team: http://biotech-id.cool.ne.jp/photo.html - blooming Brassica

napus on

Route 51 (dated July 8, 2004). You can see the result of treatment with

Roundup: http://biotech-id.cool.ne.jp/siken.html (first picture: before

Roundup treatment; second picture: after applying Roundup).

 

The team is also checking Basta tolerant GM OSR. There is a serious

concern over how the government will be able to secure the rights of

seed-savers from GM pollution.

 

In July this year anti-GMO groups in Japan established a nationwide

network called " GM Watch Citizens Network " . Their aim is to be vigilant

and to make sure they stop GM crop cultivation in local communities. They

also want to encourage local governments to create GMO Free Zones. They

are also looking into the GM pollution around the ports.

 

Finally, I have to mention that the " International Year of Rice NGO

Action " Steering Committee Japan and the " Save our Rice " Campaign by PAN

AP conducted a very successful 4-day long citizens gathering in

November, in order to challenge the " World Rice Research Conference " ,

jointly

organised by the MAFF Japan and the International Rice Research

Institute (IRRI). They invited guests from rice farming countries:

Devinder Sharma (Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, India)

Usha Jayakumar (Thanal, India),

Rosanna Dewi (Gita Pertiwi, Indonesia)

and Karsten Wolff (PAN AP, Malaysia).

 

The gathering was held in Tokyo and Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture. There

were some 200 people who participated in the gathering from all over

Japan. You can read the reports:

- " We Oppose GM Rice!! " - Appeal Approved by the Tokyo NGO Action

Conference on GM Rice and the International Year of Rice

http://www.gmrwatch.org/e/ngo/0411-1.htm

- " We do not eat, we do not sell, and we do not cultivate GM rice! " -

Report on the NGO activities, challenging the " World Rice Research

Conference " in Japan (November 2004)

http://www.panap.net/ricecampaign/docs/news02.pdf

 

Another demonstration against GM rice in Tokyo was organized by a

consumers organization, Japan Offspring Fund (JOF), together with the

National Federation of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Cooperatives

Workers' Unions (Nodanro). Read their press release:

http://www.tabemono.info/english/gene/2004_11.html

 

The United Nations Assembly designated 2004 as the International Year

of Rice with the theme " Rice is life " , and have held conferences in

different part of the world involving many rice researchers including

biotech researchers throughout this year. Therefore there have been many

activities among anti-GM rice groups in different rice farming countries,

including China, where the first GM rice might possibly be approved

next year.

 

Greenpeace arranged an 8-day bus tour called 'Rice is Life' in Yunnan

http://www.foodsafety.org.cn/special/ricetour/eng/index.htm

 

They were joined by local groups and visited some ethnic minority

villages where so many different varieties of rice have been preserved. I

have heard that Hani's kept 140 varieties of rice!

 

Rice is self-pollinating plant, but that does not mean natural crossing

never occurs. It happens all the time I have heard from many rice

farmers both in China and in Japan. Farmers know best! And farmers

know how

to preserve different varieties.

 

Leave it to the farmers, they know how to continue to feed us, do not

let biotech industry to wipe away the biodiversity! Respect the

differences! Different varieties must be maintained - they belong here on

earth!

 

Let's maintain our good and positive fight to go on growing widerthan

ever before and to make the world GMO free!

 

Thank you to you all for such a remarkable year. We did a lot again,

didn't we?

 

With respect,

Akiko

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For a farmer's view of 2004 from Australia, see:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4758

 

For a view of 2004 from France, see:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4766

 

 

 

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