Bush suppresses GE crop warnings

[Guest guest]

Bush suppresses GE crop warnings.

Leaked report acknowledges genetic threat

 

Mon 18 October 2004

MEXICO/Mexico City

 

Monsanto and the US Government have been telling the world

that genetically engineered crops pose no contamination

threat to natural indigenous species. But Greenpeace has

learned from a leaked report that NAFTA disagrees and is

recommending steps to avoid a genetic threat to natural

maize in Mexico. Surprise, surprise: the Bush Administration

is attempting to suppress the report.

 

The report, written by the Commission for Environmental

Cooperation (CEC) of the North American Free Trade Agreement

(US, Canada and Mexico) recommends that all genetically

engineered (GE) maize imports be labelled as such and that

all US maize entering Mexico should be milled upon entry, to

prevent living seeds from being planted intentionally or

accidentally.

 

The Bush Administration has intervened several times to

delay the publication of the report -- completed three

months ago -- and there is still no official date for its

publication.

 

The scandal began in September 2001 when the Mexican

government announced that scientists had discovered

contamination of indigenous varieties of maize with

genetically engineered (GE) varieties. The likely source of

the contamination is imported maize from the USA.

 

Indigenous and local communities in Oaxaca were horrified,

and non-governmental environmental organizations in Mexico

started a campaign to bring the contamination to the

attention of the world.

 

As the genetic home of maize, Mexico is on the forefront of

natural diversity in the crop. There are hundreds of local

and wild varieties of Mexican maize, all of which could be

marginalised and overtaken by aggressive GE strains. Loss of

these varieties would put the world's food security at risk

since farmers rely on these genetic resources to create new

varieties, especially ones adapted to changing environmental

conditions.

 

One of the first things Mexico did was to request the CEC to

look into the matter. The CEC began a process to investigate

the contamination; possible impacts on human health,

communities, and the environment; and eventually to provide

recommendations to the three NAFTA governments on how to

address the contamination. The CEC finished the long-awaited

report on the contamination of Mexican maize by US GE maize

way back in June.

 

" The recognition of real environmental risks of GE maize and

the consequent recommendation to mill US maize upon entry

into Mexico will clearly damage the US position in its WTO

case against Europe. It is no wonder they worked so hard to

try to prevent its release, " said Doreen Stabinsky, genetic

engineering campaigner for Greenpeace International.

 

There are at least two reasons why the US might want to

delay publication of a report that highlights the

environmental, human health and socio-cultural risks of GE

maize. First, inside sources have alluded to the potential

implications of the report on the WTO case being brought by

the US and Canada against the European Union.

 

In 2003, the U.S., Canada and Argentina launched a case

against the European Union for a de facto moratorium on new

approvals on GE varieties in place in Europe since 1998. The

CEC report is likely to provide strong support for Europe's

scientific arguments. It calls attention to the huge gaps in

knowledge that exist regarding the impacts of GE maize in

Mexico, stating explicitly that risk assessments carried out

in the United States are not adequate to determine potential

impacts in Mexico.

 

" The WTO suit was clearly a politically motivated attack on

the environment and on European consumers. It is highly

significant that another trade body has now confirmed that

there are unique risks to genetically engineered organisms

and that there is scientific backing for a precautionary

approach on genetic engineering, " said Stabinsky. " The only

appropriate next step for the US government is to follow the

CEC's recommendations and mill their maize exports. "

 

The report will also clearly have an effect on the current

US efforts to send GE maize as food aid. A number of African

countries have rejected whole US maize as a potential threat

to their environment, and requested only milled maize. The

report backs up these demands as it concludes that there is

insufficient data on which to conclude safety of transgenic

maize for the Mexican environment and recommends milling of

maize to reduce these risks.