GM-free Scotland

News | August | GM blowing in the wind

The contamination of our food chain with illegal GM strains is already a very real problem.

Around the world, over 140 incidents have come to light since 1997. One “non-GMO” shipment of maize which nearly ended up in Ireland, was found to be 20 per cent GM, and even 'organic' soya beans in the US have tested 20 per cent positive for GM content.

The biggest wake-up call has been the discovery of contaminated rice. This is not a crop which has been widely commercialised anywhere, yet at least five illegal strains have crept into our food from America and China. Friends of the Earth Europe's contamination register lists 57 “Rapid alert” notifications from 17 European countries, and GM-contaminated rice protein concentrate for animal feed has been identified in 7 countries.

Part of our problem is that the US has successfully contaminated around 40 per cent of its long-grain rice with strains which were not legal anywhere. It's likely that this particular problem will be around for some time to come.

Although contamination can arise from spillage at all stages of handling and use, the biggest acknowledged concern is pollen flow from flowering GM crops in the field.

Regulators insist that such contamination can be reduced to below the 0.9% threshold requiring a GM label by maintaining carefully specified distances between GM and non-GM crops. Field tests surrounded by pollen traps are used to measure how far the pollen will spread within the few hours it is viable. These have indicated to the UK government that buffer zones of 35 metres around oilseed rape and 110 metres around maize are sufficient.

However, the science used has been questioned.

Two studies on pollen movement have been published this year. The articles appeared, not in a biotechnology journal, but in 'Ecological Applications'.

Researchers at Exeter University developed a model based on records of wind direction and speed from 27 weather stations across Europe to predict wind-borne pollen dispersal in maize, oilseed rape, sugar beet and rice. A similar model was developed by researchers at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on the wind blowing above fields of GM bentgrass compared with the results of extensive greenhouse and laboratory testing.

Since pollen can remain viable and air-borne for hours and winds of 25 mph are not unusual, the models suggest buffer zones should be measured in tens of kilometres rather than in metres. Factors which have not been taken into account include:

Despite the knowledge that maize, sugar beet and rice are almost entirely wind-pollinated, while oilseed rape uses wind besides insects, no data on wind conditions have ever been collected during field trials.

The Exeter team has called for the Department of Food and Rural Affairs to increase buffer zones and suggested the introduction of time-lags between peak flowering of adjacent fields. Their model predicts that for oilseed rape the buffer zones should be increased 14-fold, while separation of maize should be seven to eight times greater than the current specified distances.

OUR COMMENT

Why be concerned at all this GM pollen blowing in the wind and producing the next generation of dust in the air and food on your plate?

Well, check out what a Doctor from Kildare had to say (see A DOCTOR FROM KILDARE – News July 2007) and decide whether you really want to be exposed to the completely untested and uncontrolled novel products of genetic pollution.

Think of the eleven Nigerian children killed by Pfizer's experimental drug which was tried out on them. Future pharmaceuticals will be produced in GM crops in open fields and their pollen will blow about just as much as any other crop.

Think also of the 7-10 per cent of hospital patients who acquire infections during their stay in a place meant to cure them, and who cost us in the UK £183 million a year. Many GM plant varieties contain antibiotic-resistance genes which can be taken up by microbes. This makes the whole business of clearing up infections more difficult, more expensive, and sometimes impossible. These will be blowing in the wind too.

If you are surprised (or shocked) that crop scientists and regulators didn't notice that the wind sometimes blows, nor that usually it only blows in only a single direction at any one time, and that the currently specified buffer zones probably mean that gene contamination is inevitable TAKE ACTION.

For example, support GM Freeze which is campaigning for:

and lots more sensible, precautionary measures. Check out www.GMfreeze.org.

If you want to keep up to speed on the extent of European GM contamination, check out Friends of the Earth Europe's contamination register at www.foeeurope.org/GMO/rice_contamination.htm. For global GM contamination incidents, check out Greenpeace' contamination register and Report at www.greenpeace.org.

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