Genetically Engineered Soya Bean Certified By Agriculture Canada
TORONTO, Canada 17 March 1997
The international environment group Greenpeace today demanded that the federal government revoke last week's certification of a "Roundup Ready" soya bean. This is the first genetically engineered (GE) soya bean listed as a variety in Canada, and it forces farmers and the entire soya bean industry to choose between natural varieties and seeds that have had genes added to them from a virus, a bacterium and a petunia.
"Monsanto is gambling that their new soya bean will not destroy, mutate or harm native plants and animals, that it will not harm human health," said Tzeporah Berman, Greenpeace Biodiversity campaigner. "This is a new life form that has not been subjected to long-term tests. Allowing it to be grown and consumed without a thorough understanding of how it will affect the environment and human health is careless at best."
The soya bean, certified as S14M7 is owned by Novartis Incorporated (formed by the recent merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz) which has a licensing agreement with Monsanto to adapt the Roundup Ready soya bean for use and sale in Canada. The Roundup Ready soya bean is resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. This allows more of their own chemical to be sprayed without harming the soya bean plant itself.
Greenpeace has done many direct actions in Europe and the United States aimed at disrupting the transport of Roundup Ready soya beans. The U.S. started growing the soya beans last year and mixes them in with the GE-free crop, preventing buyers from choosing between the two.
In Europe a MORI poll found that 53-78% of people polled (by country) did not want GE food products. Major food producers such as Kraft Jacobs Suchard (fourth largest in Europe) and Unilever and Nestle in Austria and Germany will not use GE soya in their products. Many retailers both small and large are declaring themselves GE free. The Eurocommerce Association, which represents 30% of European food retailers, is demanding the segregation of crops and the labelling of GE soya products. In the Netherlands (Europe's largest soya bean importer) the parliament has just passed a resolution calling for the Dutch government and industry to implement policies that ensure the segregation of GE soya from GE-free soya. In Switzerland, the use of GE soya in human food is illegal. Legislators are starting to prohibit the import of GE products and are creating mandatory labelling policies in many other countries.
"European food manufacturers are looking for soya supplies that are GE-free." said Berman. "Canadian farmers have an opportunity to corner an emerging green market. There is no reason, other than corporate profit, to rush blindly into a massive genetic experiment."
For more information contact:
Tzeporah Berman tel: +1 415 512 9025
Peter Morris, Greenpeace International tel: +31 20 523 6222
Mary MacNutt, Greenpeace Toronto tel: +1 416 597 8408