ISIS Press Release 06/03/04
Dr. Brian John of GM-Free Cymru and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the
Institute of Science in Society, both members of the Independent Science Panel
on GM launched 10 May 2003, have written a strongly worded letter to Margaret
Beckett to challenge the approval of Chardon LL GM maize for Britain. The
letter is reproduced below. Please circulate widely.
From the INDEPENDENT SCIENCE PANEL
19 February 2004
The Rt
Hon Margaret Beckett, MP
Department of the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs,
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR
Dear
Mrs Beckett,
We are gravely concerned by the leaked Minutes of the Cabinet Office
Ministerial Sub-Committee on Biotechnology, which demonstrate that you are
about to give approval for the National Seed Listing of Chardon LL.
We respectfully remind you that if you do that you will be failing
to exercise the duty of care that you owe to the public, and also failing
to act as required by Article 20 of the Deliberate Release Directive
(2001/18/EC). This article requires competent authorities (ie your
Department) to bring to the attention of the European Commission and other
EU countries any new evidence relating to Chardon LL which might involve a
likelihood of harm arising from its use. This information should be
accompanied by a request for a variation in the conditions attached to the
original consent which comes to an end in October 2006.
In this case the "lead" competent authority responsible for the
original consent is France. We understand that the FSE research results and
the ACRE recommendations have already been submitted to France and the
other EU countries, and to the Commission. This is a start, but we urge you
as a matter of the highest priority to request a variation in the
consent conditions, citing the following crucial scientific evidence:
1. Chardon LL transgenic insert has changed from the structure reported
in the company's original dossier, indicating it is unstable, and hence
illegal under the current EC directive on the deliberate release of GMOs.
Studies by a French scientist also found that the transgenic insert in
Chardon LL is in a transposon, which would further increase its
instability.(1)
2. Its instability is associated with CaMV 35S promoter, mentioned in
the minutes of the European Food Safety Authority plenary meeting 10
December 2003. The EFSA also raises other safety issues that have not
been addressed by the UK Government. (2)
3. By common consent, the FSE maize trials did not replicate the
likely commercial growing conditions that would apply if Chardon LL is
grown in the future. The ACRE assessment of the FSE research results was
not a simple "positive assessment." The ACRE opinion was a highly qualified
one, with a recommendation that Chardon LL should only be grown in the UK
if the herbicide regime is EXACTLY AS IT WAS IN THE FSEs. (3)
4. There was a virtually identical opinion on the FSE research from the
GM Science Review Panel chaired by Sir David King, ie that plantings of
Chardon LL would be acceptable "IF ALL ELSE REMAINS CONSTANT AND THE CROPS
ARE INTRODUCED AND MANAGED IN THE WAY THEY WERE IN THE TRIALS."
5. There are now major concerns about the toxicity of GA (Liberty)
herbicide (5). We understand that Sweden is currently conducting a review
of the safety of GA on behalf of the other EU countries. In addition, the
Danish authorities have discovered dangerously high levels of the
herbicides used with GM crops in groundwater where it it not supposed to
persist (6).
6. There is published and peer-reviewed information from the USA on
the ineffectiveness of Liberty when used on its own with GM maize crops
after 2 - 3 years. The problem manifests itself in the development of
herbicide resistance by common weeds (7). Bayer has recognized this itself,
and has been recommending a Liberty / atrazine mix to US GM-maize farmers
since early 2001. (8) (9)
7. We have seen reports of cattle deaths in Germany associated with
Syngenta Bt 176 maize (10). This is similar to Chardon LL in that it is
unstable as well as nonuniform, and it shares the CaMV 35S promoter
responsible for instability. We are also mystified as to the fate of the
famous Reading University feeding studies on Chardon LL, years after their
results should have been published. (11) 8. Recent reports on
cross-pollination involving blue maize and purple maize suggest that there
are serious shortcomings in the current DEFRA view that GM maize is
unlikely to out-cross significantly beyond a few tens of metres.
Cross-pollination and hybridization of conventional maize was identified at
a distance of c 5 km from the source crop (12) (13). It is not known at
present whether this contamination was above the 0.9% threshold.
There are other scientific concerns also, some of which were analysed
in detail during the Chardon LL Hearing. Many of these concerns have not
been adequately addressed by ACRE.
Please confirm receipt of this letter, and confirm that you will
immediately take the actions required by Article 20 of the Directive.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely, Dr Brian John and Dr Mae-Wan Ho
Independent Science Panel
NOTES (1) 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)
(2) Mae-Wan
Ho, Unstable Transgenic Lines Illegal. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/
(3) ACRE
advice on the implications of the farm-scale evaluations of genetically
modified herbicide-tolerant crops. January 13, 2004, paras 36-40.
(4) see para 24 of the ACRE advice 13 Jan 2004. Also:
http://www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/pdf/gmsci-fse-acre.pdf
(5) Prof Malcolm Hooper "Evidence with special emphasis on the use of
GA herbicide", Chardon LL Hearing, May 2002. See also: Josef Hoppichler
(Austrian Federal Institute for Less-Favored and Mountainous Areas),
"Critical Observations Regarding the Use of Genetic Engineering in
Agriculture and Food" Voluntary Report - public distribution Date:
2/2/2004 GAIN Report Number: AU4002 AU4002 Austria
Biotechnology Austrian Observations on Biotechnology in Food and
Agriculture 2004 Approved by: Robert H. Curtis, U.S. Embassy, Vienna
(6) Analyses of the Danish Pesticide Leaching Assessment Programme
found glyphosate and its degradation products in groundwater above the
warning concentration of 0.1Y´µg/l. Denmark has thus restricted
the application of Roundup. It is reasonable to assume that GA herbicide
would have the same effect.
(7) The spread of
glufosinate-resistant weeds is a growing problem likely to make the use of
Liberty ATZ almost essential in areas where GM maize has been grown for
several years. American researchers have documented the emergence since
1996 of heritable glufosinate-resistance in ryegrass,goosegrass, horsetail
and waterhemp in areas of high glufosinate (Liberty) use. See this:
http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/research/2000/ne/ncs1.pdf
(8) The marketing and packaging materials for Liberty ATZ say that it
is specifically for use on Bayer Cropscience GM maize. The Aventis Liberty
ATZ Data Sheet was printed on 12/03/2001, ie before the commencement of
the British FSE maize programme. Therefore it must be concluded that
Aventis/Bayer knew prior to 2001 that Liberty would be mixed with ATZ for
commercial plantings, but still applied for the use of unmixed Liberty in
the FSE trials.
(9) Transcript of BBC 2 - Newsnight - Tuesday 25th
June on Atrazine use on GM Maize at:
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/newsnightGMmaizeatrazine.htm
In the Newsnight report, 25th June 2002, agricultural experts revealed that
between 75% and 90% of US GM maize growers were using a product called
Liberty Atz - a mixture of Aventis' weed killer GA and Atrazine, the
traditional herbicide used on maize crops. Atrazine has been a problem
pesticide for decades, and washes readily into rivers and groundwater. It
is an EU Red List pesticide and is on the EU Priority List for hormone
disrupting effects in animals.
(10) The Institute of Science in
Society http://www.i-sis.org.uk
Mae-Wan Ho and Sam Burcher, "Cows ate GM Maize & Died". See also reports
in Science and Society that animals avoid GM feed,if given the choice, and
if force-fed on GM fodder, fail to thrive.
(11) At the ACRE
hearing into T25 in Feb 2002 Prof Phipps of Reading University gave
evidence on cattle feeding for Bayer. He said that he and his colleagues
had carried out a cattle feeding study using silage from an FSE maize site.
The study was complete and being written up for publication in a peer
reviewed journal. Since then nothing has been said or appeared, and it is
therefore assumed that the results of the study have been so disastrous
that they have been withheld from public or peer-review scrutiny.
(12) Letter from Scientists for Global Responsibility to The Rt Hon
Margaret Beckett re "New Evidence of Long-Range Pollination by Maize" 5th
February 2004. Letter signed by Dr Eva Novotny.
(13) Corn pollen
drifts further than thought, 29 Sep 2003
http://www.agriculture.com/ (Iowa State University project examining the distance
corn pollen travels to breed neighboring corn surprised
researchers).
Cc:
Dr David King
GM Science Review Panel
Room
472, Office of Science and Technology, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H
0ET
Prof Christopher Pollock
Advisory Committee on Releases to the
Environment
ACRE Secretariat, Zone 3/G9, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria
Street, London,
SW1E
6DE
Dr Les Firbank
The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology)
CEH Lancaster, Lancaster Environmental Centre,
Library Avenue
Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP
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