Call for tighter GM controls
by Paul Brown, environment correspondent

The Guardian    Translate This Article
6 June 2005

On 6 June 2005 The Guardian reported: Environmental advocacy groups have for the first time compiled comprehensive records of contamination mishaps from genetically modified food. The first register of such incidents across the world, which includes eight in Britain, is being published as governments meet to discuss how to protect the food supply. Global Good News service views this news as a sign of rising positivity in the field of environment, documenting the growth of life-supporting, evolutionary trends.

Campaigners compiled the register to show the extent of the problem and to put pressure on governments for action. The report details all known contamination of food, feed for animals, seed, and wild plants that have taken place since GM crops were introduced in 1996. The information has been published on a website launched by GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace.

The register contains more than 60 incidents of illegal or unlabelled GM contamination that have been documented in 27 countries. Cases of illegal releases of GM organisms and damaging side effects, such as the development of super-weeds, are also included.

In an attempt to build rules to render all GM products traceable, governments are meeting in Montreal, Canada. Another issue on the table is liability—who pays when the natural environment is damaged by the spread of GM genes, and who pays if farmers lose markets through contamination. The British government has so far failed to develop a policy on accountability.

The US, and the large agribusinesses which market GM, are anxious to avoid any liability for unauthorized contamination releases. Progress in these areas has been slow internationally, and governments are anxious to complete work this week on the agreement called the Caragena protocol.

Sue Mayer, the director of GeneWatch UK said, 'No government or international agency has established a public record of contamination incidents or other problems associated with GM crops. The official approach of turning a blind eye is not good enough when dealing with a technology like GM where living organisms are released into the environment.'

The compilers of the register believe that only strict rules with liability regulations applied by governments can stop the unauthorized spread of GM seeds and products. 'If states do not act and set strict rules now, GM crops will further contaminate lands, seeds, and food around the world,' Doreen Stabinsky of Greenpeace International said.

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