FEATURE - Scientists assess genetically modified sugar beet

RTw 22.10.98 07:03


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FEATURE - Scientists assess genetically modified sugar beet
By Peter Blackburn
BURY ST EDMUNDS, England, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Sugar beet, genetically modified to withstand herbicide, is expected to appear on the U.S. market next year.
But European governments, wary of public worries over beef because of the BSE "mad cow" crisis, will be slower to approve new technology.
At Europe's largest sugar beet research centre -- Broom's Barn in the peaceful countryside of eastern England -- scientists are assessing potential environmental and health risks from beet, genetically engineered by international plant breeding companies.
"We are looking at the impact on weeds, flora, fauna and insects," said Keith Jaggard, head of crop production at Broom's Barn, part of the British Institute of Arable Crops Research.
In Britain, nearly 400 fields tests are being discreetly conducted on genetically modified crops, including oilseed rape, maize, tomatoes, potatoes as well as sugar beet.
Only GM soy and maize are currently marketed provided they are clearly labelled.
Broom's Barn researchers are investigating the possible risk of pollen from transgenic beet combining with wild beet and producing herbicide resistant "super-weeds" that would swarm over the countryside and choke plants and crops.
Researchers are also examining the risk of new diseases as currently docile viruses pick up transgenic properties.
Another fear is that people may become resistant to antibiotics when they consume food processed from genetically modified crops.
But genetic engineering, by which specific genes are transferred from one species to another, allows farmers to grow more food on less land, using less herbicide and pesticide.
"GMO herbicide-resistant crops can increase yields by five to seven percent," said Jaggard.
NEW HIGH YIELD PRODUCTION METHODS QUESTIONED
With Western Europe burdened by costly grain and beef mountains, critics say the development of potentially risky new higher yielding production methods is unnecessary.
The biotech industry argues that public perception of health and environmental risks is based on misunderstandings.
Plant breeders say transgenic crops benefit the environment because less herbicide and pesticide would be needed because the genetically modified seeds can fight weeds and insects.
Environmentalists say that herbicides, such as U.S. chemical giant Monsanto's "Roundup," which are used with genetically modified crops, are far more toxic than conventional herbicides and kill both harmful and benign bugs.
Sugar beet needs to be grown in a three to five year rotation with cereals and potatoes, onions and other vegetable crops to prevent a build-up of weed and insect resistance.
"With herbicide resistant beet varieties, weeds can be left longer and attract aphids away from beet," said Mike May, senior liaison officer at Broom's Barn.
Conventional herbicides have to be applied early or they kill the beet.
Insects eat sugar beet only if there's nothing else available, May said, adding that it was a question of finding a balance between the beet and weeds.
A swarm of aphids was expected after a mild winter in England, which meant more insects survived until the spring, but wet and windy weather suppressed the population in June and eased the problem.
MOVING INTO EUROPEAN SUPERMARKETS
Genetically modified food products have already made deep inroads into European supermarkets.
GM products include tomato puree, developed by Britain's Zeneca to prolong its shelf life, and a wide range of foodstuffs containing soy beans.
An estimated two-thirds of food products contain varying amounts of soy but shoppers are unable to tell which are genetically modified.
The Americans, who developed GM soybeans, argued successfully that it was impossible to segregate them from conventional beans.
European Union labelling rules for GM soy and maize, approved in May, are therefore meaningless and difficult to apply, consumer groups say.
Monsanto recently spent more than $1 million on an information campaign to try to dispel public fears.
It came after Austria and Luxembourg, worried by hostile public opinion, banned imports of GMO maize produced by the Swiss company Novartis.
In late September, France's highest administrative court delayed an authorisation given to Novartis to market the maize in the country.
The decision by the Council of State, in response to a request by the environmental group Greenpeace France, was taken on the basis of procedural irregularities rather than on safety, but nonetheless elicited cheers from foes of biotechnology.
Germans, Swedes and the Swiss are also deeply suspicious of biotech foods.
In Ireland, Britain and France, "eco hit squads" have ripped up trial crops and researchers and plant breeding companies are reluctant to reveal their work.
Sugar production companies are sitting on the fence while they wait to see on which side a confused public finally settles.
British Sugar, the sole processor of home-grown sugar beet from around 9,000 growers, said in a statement earlier this year that its sugar has never been genetically engineered, nor are there plans to make it so in the foreseeable future.
A company spokesman said the policy still stood.

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