Why support GM crops?

There has been a rash of articles in the UK over the last couple of months about GM crops, known as Transgenicos or OMGs here in Spain. First we had a FSA report concluding there are no health benefits to eating organic food – although the study totally failed to examine the environmental benefits of using organic, non-pollutants, as fertilizers and pesticides. On July 8^th there was an article on salt-resistant GM crops which claimed to be beneficial to developing world farmers. A few days later the paper published details of how the British government is supporting this research financially, and then we come to the proposed introduction of GM into Britain on August 12^th in the  Independent and The Guardian. PR campaign anybody?

Genetically Modified crops , argue Monsanto – producer of 90% of the worlds GM seeds – improve harvests by creating plants which are resistant to bugs and /or plants which are resistant to herbicides, which can then be applied onto the crops to kill bugs without damaging the plant.

But green groups such as Friends of the Earth, WWF and Greenpeace and some leading academics say the trouble with GMOs is that they encourage the overuse of strong pesticides which harm the environment. There is no conclusive proof that these pesticides are not harmful to human health. Incidentally, the main claim that GMOs produce higher yeilds than natural crops has been strongly questioned by the negative findings of studies conducted by the University of Kansus in 2008, and by Doug Sherman in 2009.

The GM seeds Monsanto and others sell are bred to be resistant to a specific type of pesticide ‘ Roundup‘, also produced by Monsanto. As use of GM seed increases around the globe, the amount of Roundup that runs off into the surrounding land similarly increases. Good news for the environment or good news for Monsanto? Roundup has been shown to be extremely effective in wiping out wildlife which has not been genetically modified to withstand it. And Monsanto have a proven track record in producing effective poisons – see details on Agent Orange and DDT.

Surely there has been independent, peer reviewed, examination of the safety of this technology and the pesticides which support it?

Apparently not.

It is illegal to publish the results of any independent study because of the extremely controversial ‘end user’ agreement purchases of GM seed have to sign. Scientific American recently wrote a strong article questioning how a product so essential to human health as food could not be independently tested before being brought to market. The first UK tests were carried out for the government by plant lectin expert Dr Arpad Pusztai, author of 270 peer-reviewed papers and three books on the subject. He was hounded from his position in 1998 when he publicly stated he would not eat the GM potatoes he’d been testing, as they caused harm to his rats in the lab. He recieved a Whistleblower Award in 2005 from a German lawyers’ accociation.

All the media air-time given to arguments over GM crops takes reporters attention away from all the other possible solutions to the issue of how to grow enough food to feed the planet, without destroying the environment in the process. One non chemical solution to weeds is solarization. Another is the‘push-pull’ maize farming in east Africa. For every tech solution there are agroecological and organic ideas out there too. See ‘Biomimicry‘ for sound economic arguments for non-chemical farming solutions.

The GM debate is particularly relevant in Spain, as ever increasing quantities of GM maize is being planted here for animal feed. Theoretically Spain is the only country in Europe which grows GM crops, but EU monitors found 11,000 hectares of GM maize being grown in Spain, France, Portugal and Germany in 2007 – up from 62,000 hectares (mostly in Spain) – in 2006. Unlike in the United State, GM products have to be labeled here in Europe, although it’s unlikely you’ll ever know if your supermarket chicken or beef was fed on GM maize.  If you have any concerns about GM foods, it’s probably best to buy organic. Click here for an excellent article on organic food in Cataluña by freelance writer Nicholas Mead.

I think I’m going to avoid GM foods until more rigorous independent testing has taken place. ‘The World According to Monsanto’   makes for interesting viewing and if you want to campaign to keep GM out of Europe see Greenpeace or GM watch.

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