Contact: Bill Freese, Center for Food Safety, Washington, DC (US): 202-547-9359 x14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC (US) - A new report released today shows that genetically modified (GM) crops have failed to address the main challenges facing farmers in most countries of the world, and more than 70% of GM crop acreage is still limited to two countries (the U.S. and Argentina). The report also notes that long-promised "second generation" GM crops designed to appeal to consumers have failed to appear.
Released by Friends of the Earth International and in the U.S. by Center for Food Safety, the report is entitled "Who Benefits from GM crops? An analysis of the global performance of genetically modified (GM) crops 1996-2006." It offers in-depth assessments of GM crops in the U.S., South America and Europe, as well as evaluations of GM cotton and widely publicized new applications, such as GM crops for biofuels.
"No GM crop on the market today offers benefits to the consumer in terms of quality or price, and to date these crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty in Africa or elsewhere," said Nnimmo Bassey, spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Africa in Nigeria.
"The great majority of GM crops cultivated today are used as high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meat," he added.
According to the report, GM crops commercialized today do not yield more than conventional varieties, are in some cases more prone to yield losses under drought conditions, and on the whole have increased rather than decreased pesticide use, exacerbating the growing problem of herbicide-resistant weeds.
"Over 80% of GM crops planted worldwide are engineered by chemical/biotechnology companies like Monsanto to be used in tandem with their herbicides, one form of pesticide," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst with Washington, DC-based Center for Food Safety.
"GM crops have proven to be a great way to sell more herbicides and increase the number of weeds resistant to them, but they're irrelevant to the needs of the vast majority of developing country farmers," he added.
The report's launch coincides with the annual release of the "Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops" report of the industry-sponsored International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) - which promotes GM crops as a solution to hunger and poverty. The biotechnology industry continues to misleadingly claim that GM crops play a role in solving world hunger.
2006: A BAD YEAR FOR GM CROPS
+ In 2006, the US Department of Agriculture, a chief proponent of GM crops, for the first time acknowledged that GM crop yields are not greater than those of conventional crops, and a compelling number of studies by independent scientists demonstrate that GM crop yields are lower than, or at best equivalent to, yields from non-GM varieties.
+ The most widely planted GM crop, Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybeans, are more susceptible to drought than conventional soybeans. The Ministry of Environment in Paraguay detected higher yield losses in Roundup Ready soy than in the conventional varieties during the 2006 drought. Similar observations were made during a drought in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in 2005.
+ In the last decade, cotton production has declined in the majority of countries that have adopted GM cotton like Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and Australia, and significant drops in GM cotton production are forecasted in 2006 for South Africa and Mexico.
+ In 2006, a European Union-wide survey of public views reconfirmed the European public's opposition to GM food.
+ In 2006, the rice supply on four continents was contaminated with an illegal GM rice supposedly field-tested only until 2001, proving once again the inability or unwillingness of the biotech industry to control its products.
Additional contacts:
In Asia: Nizam Mahshar, Friends of the Earth Malaysia: Tel: +60194777755
In South America: Karen Nansen, Friends of the Earth Uruguay: Tel: +598 99 524 003
Additional resources:
A three-page "Highlights of the report" is available at: http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007highlights.pdf
The executive summary of the report is available at
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007execsummary.pdf
The full report is available for media upon request from media@foei.org
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