[IN E-NEWS]: GM maize has risks and side effects + Ban GM Trees.

June 27, 2005

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GM maize has risks and side effects

Greenpeace publishes company documents on rat-feeding trials

BERLIN Greenpeace is today publishing confidential Monsanto corporation documents on feeding trials conducted on rats using genetically manipulated(GM)maize. The animals displayed negative health effects after being fed Monsanto's Mon863 GM maize, which produces an insecticidal toxin.The higheradministrative court in Münster released the documents on Monday after Greenpeace had successfully pressed to inspect them in accordance with the EU law on environmental information. The judgement sets a precedent for cases in which companies keep their documents on GM-plant risk assessment secret. The EU environment council in Luxembourg will decide whether to authorise imports of this maize on Friday. Greenpeace and scientists are together calling for an import ban on Mon863; the German government should vote against it being authorised."The GM maize should not be allowed to be licensed as food or feedstuff in EU countries," said Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini of the French state Commission du Génie Biomoléculaire (CGB), which is responsible for risk assessments of GM plants. "If a trial produces such striking results, it must at all events be repeated."The release of the documents means that scientists like Professor Séralini are no longer bound to maintain confidentiality. "The safety standards in EU authorisation procedures for genetically manipulated plants are in general inadequate," said Professor Seralini, speaking at a Greenpeace press conference in Berlin.Professor Arpad Pusztai, who had already made a risk assessment of Mon863 for the German government, also warns against allowing the maize to be licensed."It cannot be presumed that the damage to the rats' inner organs and the animals' blood picture are based on chance. The documents also show that the set-up for the experiments was inadequate and evaluation of the data incorrect. Further investigations are absolutely necessary."Mon863 produces a so-called Bt-toxin, to protect it against the corn rootworm. This toxin is not identical to the substance contained in GM plants already licensed in Europe and which makes them resistant to the corn borer. Mon863 furthermore contains a controversial gene conferring resistance to antiobiotics, which according to EU release Directive 2001/18/EC should be avoided.It cannot be ruled out that the gene sequence will transfer to disease-causing agents and thus encourage the creation of new resistant pest organism.The ministers will also vote in Luxembourg on existing national bans on the importing and cultivation of GM plants. Five EU countries including Germany are appealing to a national protection clause in the EU law. The Commission has called on countries to lift the bans. To date only the UK and the Netherlands are supporting the EU Commission."Few countries want to have their rights curtailed," says Greenpeace's Christoph Then. "Lifting national restrictions must be rejected just as the authorisation of Mon863 GM maize must be. The EU must prove that it believes in the importance of protecting consumers and the environment."

NOTES TO EDITOR:

Please direct your enquiries to Christoph Then, mobile phone no. +49 (0)171-878-0832, or Simone Miller, press officer, tel. + 49 (0)1718706647. You can obtain a paper with background information by calling +49(0)40-30618 386. Greenpeace is on the internet in Germany at www.greenpeace.de and internationally at www.greenpeace.orgKatharine Mill, media officerGreenpeace European Unittel +32 2 274 1903/+32 496 156229Katharine.Millhttp://eu.greenpeace.org

Ban Demanded on Release of Genetically Engineered Trees into the Environment

Threats to Forests, Land Owners, Apple Growers Cited

Philadelphia, PA-Participants at BioDemocracy 2005, the alternative conference to the Biotechnology Industry Organization's yearly gathering, are demanding a ban on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment.Genetically engineered trees are already being researched in the field, and industry is moving rapidly toward commercialization without regard for the predictable and inevitable impacts they will have on ecosystems and communities. Widespread GE Tree test plots in the Southeast threaten to contaminate the forests of Pennsylvania and the entire east coast of the U.S. and Canada. Transgenic forestry focuses on native trees species that have pollen and seeds historically known to travel for hundreds if not thousands of miles. "Gene drift has caused widespread contamination of non-GE seeds in farm crops less than a decade after commercialization," stated Alyx Perry, Coordinator of the Southern Forests Network, adding "GE trees will much more quickly contaminate forests with traits that could make them incapable of producing sawtimber and unable to support wildlife." Among the concerns being raised about the potential escape of GE tree pollen or seeds into native trees are the legal ramifications of such contamination. In Canada, canola farmer Percy Schmeiser was successfully sued by Monsanto for patent violations when his crops were contaminated by Monsanto's GE canola. Schmeiser lost his canola crop and had to pay $160,000 in legal fees. This opens the very serious question about who will own trees on public or private lands that become contaminated by GE tree pollen, and what will be the legal and financial ramifications for the owners of that land. There has been virtually no risk assessment on the inevitable impacts of gene drift from GE trees, and regulatory agencies are acting as facilitators for industry rather than champions of the public interest.

"In addition to GE trees threatening Pennsylvania's native forests, GE apple trees, being researched in nearby Cornell University, threaten the millions of conventional and organic apple trees in production in Pennsylvania," stated Dr. Neil Carman of the Sierra Club. "GE contamination could lead to economic disaster for Pennsylvania's apple growers in much the same way that GE papaya in Hawaii has wiped out many conventional and organic papaya farmers there. The only solution is to ban the release of GE trees into the environment," he concluded.

"While the genetic engineering PR spin doctors are cranking out propaganda about how GE trees will solve our problems, the fact is GE trees will cause massive new problems, some of which we can't possibly foresee," stated Orin Langelle, Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign, an alliance of thirteen organizations from the U.S. and Canada committed to banning GE trees. He continued, "What we can predict is that global warming will be exacerbated, the livelihoods of fruit growers devastated, and native forest ecosystems irrevocably damaged. In short, GE trees must be banned."During BioDemocracy 2005, Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign held the East Coast premier of A Silent Forest: The Growing Threat, Genetically Engineered Trees, the new documentary on GE trees narrated by renowned geneticist Dr. David Suzuki.

This is a joint press release from the Sierra Club http://www.sierraclub.org, Global Justice Ecology Project http://www.globaljusticeecology.org, Southern Forests Network http://www.SouthernSustainableForests.org and STOP GE Trees Campaign http://www.stopgetrees.org

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STOP Genetically Engineered Trees Campaign

http://www.stopgetrees.org