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Biotech companies should withdraw GM crop applications & other responses to ACRE (13/1/2004)

"The only reason GM maize got through the British tests was because its effect on the environment was compared to a pesticide which is so toxic it's now been banned. Giving it the all-clear is like recommending a holiday in Baghdad because it might be safer than Chechnya." - Sarah North, Greenpeace (item 1)

“GM crops are unpopular, unnecessary and a threat to neighbouring crops and the environment. The Government must not allow them to be commercially grown in the UK.”- Pete Riley, Friends of the Earth (item 2)

ACRE comments: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/acre/fse/index.htm

Responses to ACRE
1. Greenpeace press release
2. GeneWatch UK PRESS RELEASE
3. FoE press release
4. Soil Association press release

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1. Greenpeace press release

Commenting on the publication of ACRE's advice to the Government on GM crops, Greenpeace campaigner Sarah North said: "This is bad for farmers, bad for the organic food industry and bad for our countryside. Experience in America shows that planting GM maize leads to huge increases in pesticide use.

For more contact Greenpeace on +44 207 865 8255 / +44 7801 212967

Notes:

1) The farm scale trials did not test the impact that GM crops had on the environment. They tested the impacts on the environment of the herbicide use associated with GM crops. Last October, the results from these four year tests indicated that the weed management associated with two of the crops (oil seed rape and sugar beet) had a more detrimentral effect on wildlife that the management of regular crops.

The results for the third crop, maize, may be deemed invalid since it was assessed in relation to a herbicide called Atrazine, which has since been banned throughout Europe and because real-world experience in the US does not support the herbicide regimes used in the FSEs.

2) At present three EU Member States (Belguim, Germany and Denmark) have been approached by biotechnology companies to judge whether specific GM crops can be given approval for commercial use throughout Europe.

3) The crops under consideration are the same ones (oil seed rape and sugar beet) which recently performed poorly in the UK farm scale trials.

4) Member States are required to take into account all available evidence when they are making decisions regarding commercialising GM crops, including that raised by the UK farm scale trials, hence the anticipated interest in ACRE's interpretation of this data.

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2. GeneWatch UK PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USE 13th January 2003
BIOTECH COMPANIES SHOULD WITHDRAW GM CROP APPLICATIONS:

GeneWatch UK response to ACRE advice on farm-scale evaluations of GM herbicide-tolerant crops

Today, the Government's scientific advisors on GM crops confirmed that if GM herbicide tolerant oilseed rape or sugar beet were grown commercially in Britain, farmland wildlife is likely to suffer (1).

"It is quite clear that if we grow GM herbicide tolerant oilseed rape and sugar beet in Britain our farmland wildlife will be put under greater threat" said Dr Sue Mayer, GeneWatch UK's Director. "Before the results of these trials were in, the biotech companies had applied to grow these crops in Europe. They should now withdraw those applications and not proceed with such a damaging application of the technology. If they go ahead it will show how little respect they have for the environment".

ACRE said the GM herbicide tolerant maize used with the herbicide, Liberty, was less harmful to wildlife than if maize is grown conventionally - when atrazine is usually used. However, atrazine is to be withdrawn from the market, making the findings difficult to interpret.

"There should be no rush to commercialise GM maize until further consideration of how the maize would be grown in practice. In North America, farmers have had to use the a combination of chemicals with the GM maize to get adequate weed control. Given the difficult position of our farmland wildlife we have to be careful" said Dr Mayer.

For further information please contacts Sue Mayer on 01298 871898 (office); 7930 308807 (mobile).

Notes to Editors

1.The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment's (ACRE) advice to Government on the findings of the FSEs is available on: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/index.htm

2.Applications to market GM herbicide tolerant GM oilseed rape and sugar beet in Europe are being considered in Belgium, Denmark and Germany. These applications have been made by Bayer Crop Science, Syngenta and Monsanto. See: http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/default.asp

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3. GOVERNMENT GM ADVISOR ATTACKED OVER CROP TRIAL ADVICE
Friends of the Earth Press Release
Immediate Release: Tuesday 13 January

The Government’s GM advisor has refused to rule out the commercial development of GM beet and oil seed rape despite acknowledging that GM crop trials showed they would cause ‘adverse environmental effects’. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) said ‘there may be viable mitigation measures that could be used by farmers to offset any adverse effects’.

ACRE also gave strong support to a fourth crop Ð GM fodder maize Ð saying it Òdid not demonstrate evidence of adverse environmental impactsÓ. Friends of the Earth said that that the maize GM crop trials can not be used to justify their commercial development as they were fatally flawed.

Friends of the Earth’s GM campaigner Pete Riley said: ‘ACRE refuses to rule out the commercial development of GM maize and oil seed rape despite overwhelming evidence of the damage this would cause. It also appears to support the commercial development of GM maize even though trials of this particular crop were fatally flawed. GM crops are unpopular, unnecessary and a threat to neighbouring crops and the environment. The Government must not allow them to be commercially grown in the UK.’

The farm scale evaluation (FSE) results, which were published by the Royal Society in October 2003 [2], following fours years of field research, compared the impact on farmland wildlife of growing GM crops with their non-GM equivalents. GM sugar beet, fodder beet and spring oilseed rape were found to cause a serious decline in weeds and weed seed production which form the main food for farmland wildlife, including birds. This confirms the finding of previous research published by the Government [3] on the long-term impacts of growing GM herbicide beet and oilseed crops including the possible extinction of the skylark in two decades.

The FSE results also showed that GM fodder maize, which is resistant to the herbicide glufosinate, was less damaging to biodiversity than conventional maize. But the trials for this GM crop were flawed because: ¥ Aventis (now Bayer) did not reveal, until the trials were almost over, that glufosinate-atrazine mixtures and double applications of glufosinate are widely recommended in order to ensure a commercially viable crop in the USA;

¥ Use of the herbicides in the trials were closely managed by Aventis/Bayer. Friends of the Earth questions whether the FSEs may have been managed to maximise weed cover rather than achieve a commercial yield;

¥ Crop yield was not measured accurately, so we don’t know whether the biodiversity seen in the GM maize trials would ever be acceptable in commercial practice;

¥ Atrazine, the weedkiller used on three quarters of the conventional maize in the trials, will be banned in the EU from 2005. The FSEs did not compare GM maize with the likely non-GM weed management techniques which will be used in the future;

¥ The FSEÕs only looked at the impact on farmland wildlife. Wider issues, such as cross-pollination with neighbouring crops and weedy relatives were not part of the experiment;

¥ Serious doubts on contamination, food safety and other issues that were raised at a special Government hearing into the GM maize in 2000, have yet to be answered [4].

Before GM maize can be commercially grown it has to receive approval for seeds [5] and pesticides [6] as well as under GM regulations [7].

ENDS

Notes

1. GM sugar beet, fodder beet and spring oilseed rape.

2. See the Farm Scale Evaluations of Spring sown genetically Modified Crops Paper of a Theme Issue Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences 29th November 200 3 Vol 358 Number 1439 pp 1773-1913.

2. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/research/epg-1-5-188.htm

3.http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvaud/uc1239-iii/uc123902.htm

4.see http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/20001109185653.html

5. The Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) regulations 2001

6. Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 and the Plant Protection Products Regulations 1995 and amendments

7. Environmental Protection Ac 1990 and the Genetically Modified Organism (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002.

Pete Riley: 07712 843 210 (m)
Press Office: 020 7566 1649

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4. Press Release - Soil Association response to ACRE report, 13 January 2004

ACRE (the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment) has today issued a report to the Government following the results of the GM field-scale evaluations. ACRE looked at whether the results of the FSEs meet European criteria for banning GM crops on environmental grounds.

The report says that if GM oil seed rape and sugar beet are grown commercially, they will result in damage to the environment: herbicides used on GM crops adversely affect weeds and insects and will lead to loss of bird life.

ACRE said that more investigation is needed into GM maize because the herbicide used at present - atrazine Ð is due to be banned. ACRE said that in the meantime, if GM maize is grown, it must be managed in exactly the same way as in the field scale evaluations: this means that only one type of herbicide can be used.

Peter Melchett, the Soil Association's policy director said, "We welcome ACRE's decision on GM oilseed rape and sugar beet.

"But when it comes to GM maize, evidence from America shows that it is only practical to use one type of herbicide for the first few years. After that, more herbicides are needed."

The Soil Association points out that the FSEs were the first time, anywhere in the world, that the environmental impact of GM crops was considered compared with non-GM equivalents. This happened because of the insistence of Michael Meacher when he was the environment minister. According to the Soil Association, ACRE's consultation implies that in future all chemical companies must provide similar data on all GM crops.

ACRE's report says that the findings of the FSEs "have implications for agriculture in general". This is because although GM crops were generally a disaster for the environment, the research has shown that non-GM maize, sugar beet and oil seed rape also do great environmental damage.

ACRE's report suggests that all major changes in agricultural practice should be assessed. The report states: "all major changes in agricultural practice (including, for example, the use of herbicide-tolerant crops produced by conventional breeding), not just those associated with GM crops, may need to be scrutinised in terms of their environmental impact".

Peter Melchett said,"We strongly agree that all new pesticides, new crops and other changes to agricultural practice should be assessed for their environmental impact. Organic farmers would warmly welcome this."

Press Office T: 0117 914 2448 ISDN: 0117 922 1680

Soil Association Campaigning for organic food and farming and sustainable forestry
Bristol House, 40-56 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6BY T: 0117 929 0661 F: 0117 925 2504
www.soilassociation.org