GM-free Scotland

GM-free Scotland | News | November '07 |

AN OBSCENE LEVEL OF CONTROL

Seven years ago, a UN treaty agreed a ban on 'Genetic Use Restriction Technologies' or 'GURTs', commonly dubbed ''Terminator' technology. In this technique, genes are inserted into crop plants which prevent the next generation of seeds from sprouting. The purpose is to stop farmers from sowing a second crop from their previous harvest, forcing them to buy fresh seed (from the biotech industry) every year. The technology also protects the patent rights of GM seed producers, saving them a lot of money in policing their seeds and in the litigation needed to chase up offenders.

Terminator technology proved so controversial that in 1999 even Monsanto was tactful enough to put the development of such seeds on hold (The Company began to back-pedal on this in 2003 and finally bought Delta & Pine, the company which owned the patent on Terminator technology, in 2007.)

One form of Terminator has always been legally in use, disguised as a form of conventional hybrid seed production. Plants are genetically engineered so that the pollen-producing parts of the flower self-destruct. Such plants then have to be fertilised with pollen from the other parent of the hybrid. After the first generation, the crop fails to breed true and yields are low, forcing the farmer to purchase fresh hybrid seed.

A host of extensions to the Terminator principle are creeping back into the picture.

We have, for example, 'Zombie' crops which produce sterile seed, but which can be brought back to life by a special chemical (patented, of course, and sold by the Zombie-seed manufacturer).

One Terminator-concern group described Zombie crops as “a dream scenario for the Gene Giants”. Besides all the advantages accruing for Terminator, Zombie promises the added value of forcing farmers to buy a patented chemical to make their crops grow, and at the same time saving industry the expense of maintaining and marketing the GM seed stocks. Add to this, that chemicals are far easier to invent and patent than life-forms. In the current situation of widespread unease over patents on life and the rejection of four of Monsanto's key patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2007, Zombie crops in which the patent rights are attached to its life-giving chemical must be a very attractive proposition indeed.

Other GURTS dreamed up in the lab are 'Exorcist' and 'Pull-the-plug' plants. 'Exorcist' plants are designed to eject the artificial DNA, for example, at some defined point in their life-cycle, or in some defined tissue, or in response to some external trigger (this won't 'convert' the GM plants back into natural plants, although watch out for the biotech industry trying to spin that one). 'Pull-the-plug plants' contain a lethal gene which can be triggered at will by the application of a chemical.

Despite the threat to small-scale farmers in third-world countries (and, indeed, in Scotland) who save seed to preserve their seed lines and reduce costs, Britain has been happy to abandon its opposition to GURTS. In 2006, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made a carefully stage-managed announcement only weeks before a major international meeting to discuss the moratorium on GURTs: applications to trial Terminator crops in the UK are now considered on a case-by-case basis. The First Minister of Scotland at that time supported this new policy.

Since then, things have got worse. The EU has finally admitted that genetic contamination is real and is a major obstacle to the success of GM crops. It has therefore launched 'Transcontainer', a multi-million pound research initiative to support the goal of co-existence of GM and non-GM crops. This project, involving 13 universities and research institutes and funded by European taxpayers, will develop GURTs to reduce the spread of artificial DNA.

The Green Party spokesman on biotech has no doubt about the implications of Terminator: it is “allowing big biotech firms to potentially develop an obscene level of control on the world's food supply” (2006).

OUR COMMENT

See what Progressio has to say about the implications of Terminator for the starving of the world, and have a look at the actions it suggests:

www.ciir.org/progressio/internal/94810/no_green_light_yet_for_terminator_technology/

Also, think about joining the ETC Group's 'Ban Terminator Campaign'. ETC Group was formed to take action on 'Erosion, Technology and Concentration'. It is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights. Check it out at:

www.banterminator.org/

SOURCES

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