GMW: Report reveals worldwide illegal spread of GM

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GMW: Report reveals worldwide illegal spread of GM

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 8 Mar 2006 14:56:41 GMT

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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PRESS RELEASE: 8th March 2006

 

First contamination report reveals worldwide illegal spread of

genetically engineered crops

 

Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK call for urgent adoption of international

biosafety standards

 

The first report into the extent to which genetically engineered (GE)

organisms have 'leaked' into the environment - released today - reveals

a disturbing picture of widespread contamination, illegal planting and

negative agricultural side effects.

 

The report is a summary of incidents uncovered by the on-line

Contamination Register (1) set up by Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK. It

reveals a

catalogue of highly disturbing incidents right across the world,

including

 

* Pork meat from genetically engineered pigs being sold to consumers

 

* Ordinary crops being contaminated with GE crops containing

pharmaceuticals

 

* Growing and international distribution of illegal antibiotic

resistant Maize seeds

 

* Planting of outlawed GE crops which have been smuggled into countries

 

* Mixing of unapproved GE crops in food, including shipments of food

aid

 

* Inadvertent mixing of different GE strains even in high profile

scientific field trials

 

The report reveals 113 such cases worldwide, involving 39 countries -

twice as many countries as are officially allowed to grow GE crops since

they were first commercialised in 1996. Worryingly, the frequency of

these cases is increasing, with 11 countries affected in 2005 alone.

Contamination has even been found in countries conducting supposedly

" carefully controlled " high-profile farm-scale evaluations, such as

the UK.

 

" This may well only be the tip of the iceberg, as there is no official

global or national contamination register so far, " said Dr. Sue Mayer

of GeneWatch UK, who leads the team of investigators. " Most incidents of

contamination are actually kept as confidential business information by

companies as well as public authorities. "

 

Greenpeace is calling for a mandatory international register of /all/

such events to be set up, along with the adoption of minimum standards

of identification and labelling of all international shipments of GE

crops. " Without such biosafety standards ,the global community will have

no chance of tracing and recalling dangerous GMOs, should this become

necessary. " said Benedikt Haerlin of Greenpeace International's Biosafety

Protocol delegation.

 

The publication of the report comes only days before the latest meeting

of the 132 countries who have signed the Biosafety Protocol (2), which

is to establish standards of safety and information on GE crops in

global food and feed trade. At their last meeting an imminent

agreement was

blocked by only two member states, Brazil and New Zealand. They were

backed by the major GE exporting countries USA, Argentina and Canada, who

are not members of the Protocol and want to restrict required

identification to a meaningless note that a shipment " may contain " GE.

 

" All of these countries have national legislation to protect themselves

from illegal GE imports. Still they want to deny the same rights and

level of information to less developed countries, with no national

Biosafety-laws and means to enforce them, " concluded Haerlin. " Do they

really

want such unethical double standards and create dumping grounds for

unidentified and illegal GE imports? We hope that Brazil, who will be

hosting this meeting, will not betray the developing countries and

cater to

large agro-businesses at the expense of the environment. "

 

For further details contact:

Benedikt Haerlin, tel +49 30 27590309, fax +49 30 27590312 mobile +49

173 9997555

Greenpeace USA: Prof. Doreen Stabinsky , tel. +1-202-285-7398

Greenpeace China: Isabelle Meister +86 10 655 46931 ext 135

GeneWatch UK, Dr Sue Mayer, tel +44 1298 871898

 

Notes to editors

1. The GM Contamination Register is online at

/www.gmcontaminationregister.org.

The full report is also available at www.greenpeace.org/bsp2006 and

www.genewatch.org/publications/reports/contamination report final.doc

 

2. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety under the Convention on

Biological Diversity is an international treaty to establish minimum

international safety standards for genetically engineered organisms

ratified by

132 states. http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety

 

3. An overview of national legislation on imports and labelling of GE

organisms world wide including a map of potential GE dumping grounds as

well as import and export figures is available online at

http://www.greenpeace.org/bsp2006

 

 

 

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