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ISIS Report 10/02/04
Austria Raises Hell over GM Safety
"ISP members, Susan Bardocz, Mae-Wan Ho and Arpad Pusztai among others,
briefed representatives of the Austrian government and Austrian ngos in a
workshop held in Vienna last November. One of the Austrian government
representatives, Josef Hoppichler, subsequently breifed the US-Embassy in
Austria. The US Embassy staff were so impressed that Hoppichler's briefing was
translated and circulated by the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service under Global
Agriculture Information Network (GAIN). This circular is reproduced
below."
Voluntary Report - public distribution
Date: 2/2/2004
GAIN
Report Number: AU4002
Austria Biotechnology
Austrian Observations on Biotechnology in
Food and Agriculture 2004
Approved by: Robert H. Curtis, U.S. Embassy, Vienna
Prepared by: Josef Hoppichler
Report Highlights:
Following is a summary of the criticisms and questions
Austrian consumers and scientists raise while discussing Biotechnology. This
was translated from an Austrian Power Point presentation. The Austrians are
proud and protective of their mountain agriculture and their organic crop
production. Until we can answer these questions, or sell Biotech products that
provide immediate consumer benefits, the Biotech promotion issue in Austria,
and neighboring countries, will be frustrated. Answers or replies to any of
these observations, official or unofficial, are welcomed. Biotech opponents
believe that the Biotech industry is unable to adequately respond to these
observations.
Critical Observations Regarding the Use of Genetic
Engineering in Agriculture and Food
By Josef Hoppichler, Federal Institute for Less-Favored and
Mountainous Areas
Our knowledge of Biotechnology does not even amount to one pico-percent
...
DID YOU KNOW ...
- ... that all in all, only 10 scientific (peer-reviewed) studies
have been published on the health effects of GM-food and feed (4 articles among
these publications were published by the group around Arpad Pusztai and S.
Ewen)?
(Pryme I, 2003. In-vivo studies on possible health consequences of
GM-Food a. Feed, Nutrition and Health, 2003, Vol. 17, pp. 1-8. Despite the fact
that the world is full of scientific opinions on the non-hazardous nature of
GM-food, "there is only very limited data on the safety of GM-food." (Domingo
JL (2000), Health risks of genetically modified foods: many opinions but few
data, Science, 288, 1748-1749)
- ... that in many cases, the form of integration of the various
synthetic genetic constructions as well as their integration frequencies into
the various different plant genomes are not exactly known, and that the
stability of integration is more than questionable (e.g. jumping
genes)?
(Mae-Wan Ho, Transgenic Lines Proven Unstable,
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/TLPU.php
Collonier C. et al., Characterization of commercial GMO inserts: a source of
useful material to study genome fluidity. www.crii-gen.org)
- ... that we do not know the exact composition of the new proteins,
let alone their folding, and that feeding attempts or various allergenicity
tests have been carried out on the basis of the bacterial proteins
only?
(Cf. e.g. Kawata M., Pacific Ecologist, Nov. 2003:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0311/SOO113.htm)
- Regarding the evaluation of EU authorization dossiers:
"Experimental toxicological investigations have only been carried out
sporadically .... In none of the cases, potential toxicology-relevant effects
of the insertion of genes were considered .... In none of the applications (for
authorization) was the direct examination of the potentially allergenic
properties of the genetically modified plant and/or the genetically modified
plant product supported by experiments ...."
(SPÖK A., HOFER H., VALENTA R., KIENZL-PLOCHBERGER K., LEHNER P.,
GAUGITSCH H.: Toxikologie und Allergologie von GVO-Produkten (Toxicology and
Allergology of GMO-products), Monographien Band 109, UBA (Federal Environment
Agency), Wien (Vienna) 2002.
- ... that particularly in connection with the use of
herbicide-resistant plants such as the Roundup Ready soybean, Roundup has a
toxic effect upon sperm in mammals and has a potential of damaging the hormone
balance?
(Yousef MI. et al., J Environ Sci Health B. 1995, July 30(4): 513-34;
Walsh LP. et al., Roundup inhibits steroidogenesis by disrupting steroidogenic
acute regulatory (StAR) protein expression, Environ Health Perspect. 2000, Aug.
108(8): 769-76)
- ... that 43 % of children reported by their parents as showing
severe attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD) had fathers who applied
"Phosphonamino" herbicide?
(Garry VF. et al, Birth Defects, Season of Conception, and Sex of
Children Born to Pesticide Applicators Living in the Red River Valley of
Minnesota, USA, Environ Health Perspect. 2002, 110 Suppl. 3:441-9)
- ... that analyses of the Danish "Pesticide Leaching Assessment
Programme" found glyphosate and its degradation products in groundwater above
the warning concentration of 0.1µg/l? Denmark has thus restricted the
application of Roundup.
GMOs cannot be contained - coexistence is impossible in small-scale
farming structures!
DID YOU KNOW ...
- ... that in Western Canada, approximately 2.25 million hectares of
Roundup oilseed rape (Canola) are cultivated randomly in terms of geographic
distribution, and that on account of the broad application of Roundup by way of
ploughless cultivation, the entire second growth as well as ruderal populations
are extremely contaminated with GM-oilseed rape, and that double resistances
(glyphosate, gluphosinate) are not uncommon?
(Cf. e.g. R.C. Van Acker et al, GM/non-GM what co-existence in Canada:
Roundup Ready what as a case study.
http://www.agrsci.dk/gmcc-03/gmcc_proceedings.pdf)
- If politics were to establish a threshold of 0.1% of
GMO-contamination, coexistence of GM and non-GM cultivation would not be
possible. The consumer is practically expected to accept a constant minimum
GMO-share in food of up to 0.09% percent without being aware of it.
(Cf. e.g. AEBC (2003), Coexistence and Liability Report,
http://www.aebc.gov.uk/aebc/coexistence_liability.shtml)
The Precautionary Principle:
- Open questions: Effects upon food: toxicology, nutritional
physiology, immunology, allergenic potential, endocrine effect?
- Open questions: Effects upon the environment: e.g.
outcrossings, non-target organisms?
- Result: There is no safe model of prognosis:
Scientific opinions are extremely weakly founded, "... there is no
evidence to indicate that the placing on the market ... is (not) likely to
cause adverse effects on human and animal health and the environment."
Even opinions of leading scientific bodies contain mistakes:
The opinion on T25 maize of the EU-SCP, for example, has been
corrected:
"... and the herbicide tolerance trait should not transfer to any other
varieties of cultivated maize" had to be removed, which is why the opinion was
published twice. ("To err is human")
- Approaches: Rio Declaration of Principles, CBD, Biosafety
Protocol, SPS Agreement
- Criteria contained also in the EU Treaty (Article 174) -
Precaution and Prevention:
In developing its environmental policy, the Community takes into account
- the available scientific and technical data;
- the environmental conditions of the individual regions of the
Community;
- the economic and social development of the Community on the whole as
well as the balanced development of its regions.
Further Demands: proportionate; non-discriminating; harmonized
with measures previously taken; based on cost-benefit evaluations; constantly
examined as to the scientific background; clear regulations regarding the
burden of proof; questions as to reversibility.
- Backgrounds - other criteria:
Hormone administration to farm animals, rBST, BSE (mad cow disease), ...
but also the multi-dimensional structure of European agriculture and the
multi-functional requirements, i.e. strong overlapping of agricultural and
living spaces.
Prospects for non-GM Areas
- Non-GM areas are necessary
- in order to link the protection of biodiversity with sustainable
agriculture (no release in nature protection zones; cf. FSE in GB)
- in
order to provide development areas for organic farming
- in order to make
available consolidated areas for non-GM seed production
- in order to
guarantee a non-GM preservation of plant genetic resources
- as balancing
and regeneration areas in case of unforeseen developments
- "Polluter Pays" Principle has to apply to GMO-contamination:
Letter by Tom Daschle (U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader, November,
2001) in the course of the ITPGR negotiations:
"Finally, any damages caused to farmers through lower prices, lost
markets or contamination due to genetically modified products should be
reimbursed by the company producing any such product."
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