This report ranges widely, taking in, for example, issues such as pest resistance with Bt crops and the environmental impact of GM herbicide resistant crops.
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BIOTECHNOLOGY IN PUERTO RICO: MYTHS AND HAZARDS
Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero

"Thanks to our warm and wonderfully stable tropical climate, they (the biotechnology corporations) can grow three breeding generations of conventional and/or biotechnology-derived plants. The climate in the winter months allows them to rapidly complete a growth cycle and give back the results in time to match planting schedules in other parts of the world. The island's convenient location and good infrastructure, well-trained and educated workforce, STABLE GOVERNMENT AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES, fertile soils, reasonable living costs and ease of shipment to other parts of the world are additional positive factors."
(Emphasis added)
- Luz Cruz-Flores, Research Manager, Monsanto Caribbean, Puerto Rico.

The government of Puerto Rico is wagering on biotechnology as a way out of the economic debacle that the Caribbean island is suffering. Local media frequently quote experts from academia, the business community and government agencies who proclaim that this high tech industry will not only save our economy but also provide countless other benefits, like the cure for cancer and an end to world hunger.

Once again, our government, in alliance with local and foreign business interests, rushes down a path of economic and technological development without pausing to ponder the possible social and ecological costs or long term impacts. The story repeats itself. We saw this happen in the late 20th century with the pharmaceutical boom, with its legacy of toxic waste and Superfund sites; petrochemicals, an equally toxic sector that is now an empty shell of what it used to be in the 1970’s; and strip mining, which thankfully never even started.

Of particular concern to the PR Biosafety Project is the use of Puerto Rico as a commercial seed farm and laboratory for genetically engineered crops, also known as GMO for "genetically modified organism", or as biotech crops. What are the environmental and human health risks caused by their planting and consumption? In response to these concerns, Luz Cruz-Flores, research manager for Monsanto Caribbean and president of the Puerto Rico Seed Research Association, said this in a 16-page supplement published in September in the weekly Caribbean Business titled "Biotechnology: Transforming our quality of life":

"People concerned about the safety of biotech foods will appreciate that study after study has documented the safety of agricultural crops developed using biotechnology- for both the environment and the dinner table. The most telling fact is that there has not been a single documented case of an illness caused by a food developed with biotechnology since they first came on the market... Crops and food using biotechnology are among the most tested in history and are certified long before they are released onto the market."

Such declarations are truly surprising in light of the growing number of prominent scientists that warn that the technology of genetic engineering is based on erroneous and obsolete assumptions and that it therefore presents inherent and unacceptable risks for society and the ecosystem.

For starters, interested readers might want to read the work of the Independent Science Panel (www.indsp.org/). This group of some twenty scientists with expertise in agroecology, agronomy, botany, medical chemistry, ecology, microbial ecology, nutritional biochemistry, physiology, toxicology and virology , released a report on GE crops and foods that concluded that "By far the most insidious dangers of genetic engineering may be inherent in the process itself".

One can also read the critiques and warnings of EPA toxicologist Suzanne Wuerthele; Harvard Genetics professor Richard Lewontin; professors Brian Goodwin, Jacqueline McGlade, Peter Saunders, Richard Lacey, Norman Ellstrand, Peter Wills, Gordon McVie and various other colleagues, available in this URL: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6281

We do not pretend that the aforementioned experts have the last word. The biotech industry and its supporters boast their own lists of prominent scientists that wholeheartedly support GMOs. Our point is that the issue of GMO safety remains an open question among scientists.

If biotech foods are as safe and harmless as Cruz-Flores claims, then why the opposition to having them labeled? Monsanto and other GMO seed producers stubbornly oppose labeling, spending large sums of money, engaging in massive lobbying and public relations efforts and even going to the extreme of goading the US to take the matter to the World Trade Organization to this end. Why? Biotech industry spokespeople constantly talk about the need to educate the public in order to quell “unfounded fears� about biotech foods and yet they insist on keeping consumers ignorant about these products. Why?

When the subject of labeling was brought up in a biotechnology symposium held by the PR Agricultural Extension Service in 2002, a representative of Dow Agrosciences jumped up from his seat and said “that can't be done because people will think there is something wrong with the product�. Such is the faith the biotech companies have in the intelligence and criterion of consumers. Such is the faith that they have in the safety of their GMO products.

The bad example of the biotech papaya

An article on local biotech activity published in El Nuevo DÖa, Puerto Rico's leading daily newspaper, on September 25 2006, quotes Judith Rivera of Pioneer Hi-Bred (a Dupont subsidiary), who recommended bringing GMO papaya to Puerto Rico: "There is a GMO papaya that they're using in Hawaii, which is not being used in Puerto Rico and could be of high economic impact to farmers."

The biotech papaya definitely has had a high economic impact among commercial planters in Hawaii, but in no way can this impact be deemed positive.

The GMO papaya, introduced to Hawaii in 1998, was genetically altered to resist ringspot virus, which inflicts substantial damage to the harvest. It must be pointed out that Hawaiian papaya growers were never informed of this, let alone asked for their consent.

It was only a matter of time before