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ISIS Report 22/06/09
US Opposition to GMOs Gathers Momentum
Scientists and physicians in the heartland of genetic modification are alerting
policy-makers and the public to the dangers of GM crops. Prof.
Peter Saunders
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Safety and agronomic performance under fire
Great upheavals may be
afoot in the United
States,
the world’s leader in genetic modification (GM), and biggest producer of GM
crops. Within the past several months, doctors have issued a strong statement
calling for a moratorium on GM foods on grounds of safety, and scientists
have declared GM crops an agronomic failure. The evidence they presented is familiar to readers of SiS.
ISIS has submitted close to
60 reports on GMOs (genetically modified organisms, including those used for
drugs) to the US’ Department of Agriculture,
Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drugs administration over
the past ten years. But this may be the turning point, now that the Obama
administration, unlike its predecessor, clearly intends to look at the evidence
when taking a decision.
Two key documents
issued by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AEEM) in May [1]
and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in April [2] capture the rising
opposition to GMOs from doctors and scientists, who are actively alerting
the public.
Traditional breeding outperforms GM
The UCS report, Failure
to Yield [2] confirms that after 20 years of research and 13 years of
commercialization, GM crops have failed to increase yields. And “traditional
breeding outperforms genetic engineering hands down.” It also
makes three recommendations
- The US Department of Agriculture, local agricultural agencies
and universities should redirect substantial funding, research and incentives
towards approaches that are proven and show more promise than genetic engineering
for improving crop yields. These approaches include modern methods of conventional
plant breeding as well as organic and other sophisticated low-input farming
practices. (see ISIS report [3] Food Futures Now: *Organic
*Sustainable *Fossil Fuel Free )
- Food aid organisations should work with farmers in developing
countries to make these more promising and affordable methods available
- Regulatory agencies should develop and implement techniques
to better identify and evaluate potentially harmful side effects of the
newer and more complex genetically engineered crops. Current regulations
are too weak to detect them reliably
Oxfam America, which explicitly has
no position on GM crops as such, issued a statement broadly supporting the
UCS report. They also reiterated their view that governments and citizens
receiving food aid should not be forced to accept GM food. [4]
In a separate development,
26 scientists responded to a call for public comment from the Environmental
Protection Agency by protesting the “technology/stewardship agreements” they
have to sign, which inhibit them from doing research for the public good.
And as a result, “no truly independent research can be legally conducted on
many critical questions regarding the technology” (see [5] (Corporate Monopoly
of Science, SiS 42)
“Ample evidence of probable harm” from GM food
The AAEM position paper
[1] concludes as follows
“With the precautionary
principle in mind, because GM foods have not been properly tested for human
consumption, and because there is ample evidence of probable harm, the AAEM
asks:
- Physicians to educate their patients, the
medical community, and the public to avoid GM foods when possible and provide
educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.
- Physicians to consider the possible role of
GM foods in the disease processes of the patients they treat and to document
any changes in patient health when changing from GM food to non-GM food.
- Our members, the medical community, and the
independent scientific community to gather case studies potentially related
to GM food consumption and health effects, begin epidemiological research
to investigate the role of GM foods on human health, and conduct safe methods
of determining the effect of GM foods on human health.
- For a moratorium on GM food, implementation
of immediate long term independent safety testing, and labeling of GM foods,
which is necessary for the health and safety of consumers.”
The AAEM is affiliated to Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a group
that has 35 000 members and shared the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. PSR itself has
come out against the use of the genetically engineered recombinant bovine
somatotrophin (rBST) [6].
Alerted consumers demand labelling
According to the polls,
American consumers now want GM foods to be labelled; the US is one of the few developed countries where this is not required. And there
is a movement, especially in the dairy industry, to drop GM products owing
to customer demand [6].
While there is a great
deal to be done before many governments, including the UK, are convinced that
GMOs are not the way to feed the world, this will be a lot easier with a US
administration that is willing to look at the evidence rather than blindly
supporting the big corporations.
References
1. American Academy of Environmental Medicine.
(2009) Genetically Modified Foods. http:aaemonline.org/gmopost.html.
2. Gurian-Sherman,
D. Failure to Yield. Union of Concerned Scientists, April 2009. http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/failure-to-yield.pdf
3. Ho MW, Burcher S, Lim LC,
et al. Food Futures Now, Organic, Sustainable, Fossil Fuel Free, ISIS TWN, London, 2008. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/foodFutures.php
4. Pfeifer, K. (2009) Comments
on UCS Report “Failure to Yield”, American Oxfam, 14 April. http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/Oxfam-statement-on-FTY.pdf
5. Pollock, A. Crop scientists say biotechnology
seed companies are thwarting research. New York Times, 20
February 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/business/20crop.html?_r=1
The original (anonymous) statement is Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0836. http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=090000648084de39
6. Health Care Reform: Scrap
GMOs. Now Public, 6
June, 2009
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/health-care-reform-scrap-gmos
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