"No GM crop on the market today offers benefits to the consumer in terms of
quality or price, and to date these crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger
or poverty in Africa or elsewhere," said Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth
Africa in Nigeria.
"The great majority of GM crops cultivated today are
used as high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meat," he
added.
GM WATCH daily
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Friends
of the Earth Europe
Press Release
*****
NEW REPORT: GM CROPS STILL
NOT PERFORMING
*****
Brussels, 8 January 2007 – A new report to
be released tomorrow shows that genetically modified (GM) crops have failed to
address the main challenges facing farmers in most countries of the world, and
more than 70% of large scale GM planting is still limited to two countries (U.S.
and Argentina).
The new report, 'Who Benefits from GM crops? An analysis
of the global performance of genetically modified (GM) crops 1996-2006' [1] also
notes that the 'second generation' GM farm crops with attractive 'traits' long
promised by the industry has failed to appear.
"No GM crop on the market
today offers benefits to the consumer in terms of quality or price, and to date
these crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty in Africa or
elsewhere," said Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth Africa in
Nigeria.
"The great majority of GM crops cultivated today are used as
high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meat," he
added.
According to the report, GM crops commercialized today have on the
whole increased rather than decreased pesticide use, and do not yield more than
conventional varieties. The environment has not benefited, and GM crops will
become increasingly unsustainable over the medium to long term.
In
Europe, the report acknowledges a small increase in cultivation of GM maize (up
to approximately 1% of all maize production) but highlights strong continued
opposition to GM crops in the European Union and an increase in the number of
European regions declaring themselves GM Free.
Adrian Bebb of Friends of
the Earth Europe said: "The widespread opposition to genetically modified crops
and foods in Europe continues to restrict the growing of these unwanted and
unneeded crops. Consumers and farmers can see that they offer no added value and
only additional environmental and health risks."
The Friends of the Earth
International report launch coincides with the annual release of the "Global
Status of Commercialized Biotech" report of the industry-sponsored International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) -which promotes
GM crops as a key solution to hunger and poverty. The GM crops industry
continues to misleadingly claim that GM crops play a role in solving world
hunger.
2006 A BAD YEAR FOR GM CROPS
+ In 2006 the US Department
of Agriculture, a chief proponent of GM crops, for the first time acknowledged
that GM crop yields are not greater than those of conventional crops, and a
compelling number of studies by independent scientists demonstrate that GM crop
yields are lower than, or at best equivalent to, yields from non-GM varieties.
+ In 2006 due to a soybean sector crisis and lower yields in Brazil and
Paraguay, Monsanto had to scale down its expectations in both countries. The
company was forced to publicly announce in Paraguay a reduction in the royalties
they demanded from soy producers. The Ministry of Environment in Paraguay
detected higher losses in Roundup Ready soy yields than in the conventional
varieties, verifying that the GM varieties were highly sensitive to
drought.
+ In the last decade cotton production has declined in the
majority of countries that have adopted GM cotton like Mexico, Argentina,
Colombia, South Africa and Australia, and significant drops in GM cotton
production specifically are forecasted in 2006 for South Africa and
Mexico.
+ In 2006 a European Union-wide survey of public views
reconfirmed the European public’s opposition to GM food.
+ In 2006 the
rice food supply on four continents was contaminated with an illegal GM rice
supposedly field-tested only until 2001, proving once again the inability or
unwillingness of the biotech industry to control its products.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT:
In Africa: Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth
Africa
Tel: +234 8037274395 (mobile) or +234 52602680 (office)
In
Asia: Nizam Mahshar, Friends of the Earth Malaysia
Tel:
+60194777755
In Europe: Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth Europe
Tel
+4916094901163
In South America: Karen Nansen, Friends of the
Earth Uruguay,
Tel: +598 99 524 003
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] The
executive summary of the report is available at
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007execsummary.pdf
The
full report is available for media upon request from the contacts above or from
[log in to unmask] A three-page 'Highlights of the report' is available at:
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007highlights.pdf
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