GM maize growing in Portugal without any safety measures
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THE NEWS
FRONT PAGE STORY - 11/12/1999
Ministry confirms 15 varieties of GM maize growing in Portugal without any
safety measures
The Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture has admitted exclusively to THE NEWS
that it has allowed two varieties of GM corn to be grown extensively
throughout the Alentejo, Ribatejo and the north of Portugal without any
safety measures, writes Siobhan Mitchell.
The government this week revealed that there are no fewer than 15 different
experimental varieties of GM maize being grown in a cluster of sites centred
around Coimbra and Santarém. In answer to detailed questioning from THE NEWS
in a joint investigation with the Sunday Times, Agriculture Ministry
spokesman Augusto Vilela admitted for the first time that no steps
whatsoever have been taken to prevent the contamination of non-GM crops or
to prevent the spread of pollen from transgenic corn fields.
In declarations that will shock consumers, he said there were no 'safety
distances' between fields growing GM corn and those growing ordinary crops
because "there is no need to set down any conditions or specific criteria
when it comes to the use of genetically-modified organisms."
Vilela added there was therefore no system of safety checks or penalties in
operation, and that local authorities are also kept in the dark. He denied
that the government had been leant on by multinational GM giants Monsanto
and Novartis to keep the locations of crop sites secret, but admitted that
it was government policy not to disclose the information to the public. "We
are not aware of any request (from Monsanto or Novartis).It is not the
Ministry of Agriculture's policy to give out information about the
activities of farmers."
When asked about where the GM maize was likely to end up, Vilela answered
that the government had no idea. "The Ministry of Agriculture does not keep
tabs on the commercial transactions of these products," he admitted, adding
that there were no legal impediments to stop it from entering the food
chain. He also said that some GM maize would be used in animal feed for meat
products that could end up on local supermarket shelves.
Mika Railo, Greenpeace International's spokesman on GM issues, said he was
shocked by the Portuguese government's attitude. "Frankly, this is scary.
There are proven safety problems with GM corn cultivation. For example, all
scientists agree that insects will rapidly develop resistance to the GM
toxins, maybe within a single growing season.
"Contamination of non-GM crops in Portugal will also happen," he added.
"Greenpeace took random samples in Germany of non-GM fields and found them
to be contaminated with GM corn.
"This could spell disaster for many farmers who will have contaminated crops
through no fault of their own, and mean that organic farmers could be
stripped of their organic status. Exports to other EU countries could be
affected because there is no segregation of GM corn in Portugal."
In recent tests, researchers from New York University found that Bt toxins
genetically engineered into crops accumulated in the soil and were not
degraded by soil microbes. Toxic pollen from Bt maize can travel large
distances because maize is a wind pollinated plant. Even though Bt maize is
engineered solely to kill the corn pest the corn borer, it also effects all
other species within it's group - the lepidoptera - which includes rare
species such as the monarch butterfly.
The US Environmental Protection Agency of the USA has responded to the
scientists' findings by calling for 'refuges' of up to 80 per cent of non-Bt
corn to be grown wherever GM maize is grown. In Maine, in the north-eastern
United States, authorities refused approval to Bt corn due to concerns about
the development of resistance to Bt and the impact on the State's organic
growers.
Elsewhere, the international biodiversity watchdog group 'GRAIN', recently
reported that the test growing of Bt corn has now been halted in the
Philippines after local officials expressed "grave concern over the field
release of genetically engineered corn". This was due, they added, to GM
crops presenting "a huge threat to food security and agricultural
sustainability in south east Asia," and "the potential for these crops to
wreak environmental havoc, destroy ecological balance, erode biodiversity,
and undermine farmers' autonomy and productive capacity."
At present, many types of Bt corn are not approved for use within the EU,
causing US corn sales to the EU to crash dramatically from 70 million
bushels in 1997, to just 3 million bushels in 1998. US corn farmers lost 200
million dollars in sales as a result. As already reported in THE NEWS, the
French Agricultural Ministry has attempted to ensure that no Bt corn would
enter the human food chain in France by withdrawing their entire 1998
harvest.
Greenpeace warned that the Portuguese government's determination to allow a
GM 'free-for-all' could bring it under severe scrutiny from other European
countries.
"Portugal is about to take over the EU Presidency, and will have
responsibility for leading global negotiations on biosafety issues on
Europe's behalf," said Mika Railo. "The Portuguese government will therefore
have a key role on GM issues and consumer rights in Europe. "It is ironic
therefore that the Portuguese government has been sued by the EC for failing
to implement its own proper safety legislation for GM cropcultivation."