GEO Watch: Global coalition calls for enforcement of biosafety rules
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Transgene escape. Courtesy of: ETC Group |
Moderator’s
Note: One of the most significant
proven threats to the environment stems from the use of genetically engineered
organisms, including the widespread near global deployment of transgenic crops.
With recent news that both China and Russia are retreating from the embrace of
commercial agricultural biotechnology, it seems that the momentum against GMOs
is increasing. A major issue facing the non-GMO movement stems from the decades
long work done on the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the Cartegena
Biosafety Protocols, which establish rules for the protection of biodiversity
including threats posed by transgenic organisms.
An international coalition of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) has issued a call for an end to the spread of transgenes
– the snippets of bacterial, viral, and other genetic materials that are used
to assemble GMOs. Note that I use the term assemble because these are not inventions, they are assemblages of existing natural raw bio-materials. The coalition includes some of the most highly respected NGOs
including Third World Network, ETC Group, and Red de Semillas (Seed Network).
I am reposting the press release that was circulated
over the weekend through the movement networks. I note three important points
about this call for action on transgene flow that are important for those of us
struggling in the unique context of the USA, one of the major nations that has
refused to sign on to the CBD or its Cartegena Biosafety Protocols. First, the
emphasis is on the scientifically-established and irrefutable fact of gene
flow, noting that “the release of genetically
engineered plants that can persist and invade the environment or lead to
transgene flow into native populations or local varieties at centres of origin
and of genetic diversity.”
Second, the emphasis of the coalition
is on the threats posed to “centres of origin and of genetic diversity” and
this provides a key to the strategic shift that is emerging in the USA and currently focuses on resistance to the USDA’s so-called “Coexistence Policy” – a proposed
administrative rule that seeks to impose a “pluralistic” model in which GMO,
conventional, organic, and other farmers are to accept each other and get
along. This is unacceptable to those of us who are plant breeders and seed
savers, given the reality of gene flow. The challenge that we now need to address
is how certain regions of the USA are also centers of origin and of genetic
diversity – e.g., the Southwest is widely recognized as a valid extension of
the Mesoamerican Vavilov center.
Third, the ETC group warns that while
GURTs (genetic use restriction technologies) are currently banned under the
Cartegena Protocols, there are a number of countries now discussing their use.
I have reported on GURTs in previous posts: The advent of genetic use
restriction technology (GURT) must be dutifully monitored because it represents
an enduring threat to all seed savers and plant breeders as well as all non-GMO farmers. Readers will recall
that Terminator technology makes seeds sterile. The only imaginable use of this
technology is to protect transgenic seed patent owners.
Now GURT is being re-branded and
re-packaged by Monsanto and other corporations as a method to contain gene flow
between GMO and non-GMO plants. Monsanto’s statements allege that it is only
trying to protect small and organic farmers from genetic contamination by using
other genetically engineered organisms. The promise is really to keep large-scale
monoculture growers tethered to the transgenics treadmill while attaining ‘plausible
deniability’ in the event of litigation by organic farmers for damages arising
from transgenic drift. See, for e.g., Suicide Seeds: Terminator Technology Remains Active
Threat (2010), The Year in Food and Agriculture: Forget the Hungry;
Farm Workers; Urban Agriculture; Terminators; SB1070…(2010), and The Politics of Seed (2012).
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Terminator carrot. Source: joabbess |
Stop the Spread of Transgenes
Start of an
international call to stop genetically engineered organisms spreading into the
environment!
Coalition calls for
the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety to take action
16 May 2014 - Today sees the start of
an international call by a broad coalition of organisations to stop the spread
of genetically engineered organisms into the environment. The initiative says
that binding regulations must be implemented to prevent the release of
genetically engineered plants that can persist and invade the environment or
lead to transgene flow into native populations or local varieties at centres of
origin and of genetic diversity. The organisations will be approaching the
Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and encouraging them to
become actively involved. The CBD, under its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,
requests that effective measures are taken to protect biodiversity and prevent
unintended transboundary movements of genetically engineered organisms.
The call is supported by Asociandote a
Ecologistas en Accion (Spain) Econexus, Ecoropa, ETC Group, European Network of
Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), Friends of the
Earth, Europe (FOE), Gene-ethical Network (Germany), Greenpeace International,
Red de Semillas (Spain), Testbiotech (Germany), the Third World Network and the
Union de Cientificos Comprometidos con la Sociedad, UCCS (Mexico) and others.
Further supporters will be asked to join.
“There are already several
well-documented examples of genetically engineered plants spreading
uncontrolled into wild populations and ecosystems. There are also cases of
repeated transgene presence in landraces or local varieties of crop plants such
as maize in Mexico and rice in China”, says Elena Alvarez-Buylla from Mexico. “There
is a great risk that we will not be able to go back to the original
biodiversity without the bio-active transgenes, which can profoundly alter the
dynamics of wild and cultivated native varieties.” Alvarez-Buylla is a leading
Mexican biologist, currently travelling in Europe and a Member of the Unión de
Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad, UCCS (Mexico). She has been involved
in several research projects that showed that genetically engineered plants had
contaminated native populations and regional varieties in Mexico.
The Third World Network (TWN) has
followed the negotiations on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety very closely
for many years. The international organisation is very concerned about the
long-term impact of uncontrolled gene flow of transgenes into the environment: “Article
17 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety requires Parties to prevent or
minimise the risks of unintentional transboundary movements of genetically
engineered organisms, but the current trend of an increasing spread of these
organisms into the environment enhances the potential for genetically
engineered plants to move across borders”, says Lim Li Ching for TWN. “The
precautionary principle can only be implemented if genetically engineered
organisms can be retrieved from the environment in case of emergency. This
becomes impossible once transgenes move and accumulate in wild and landrace
varieties.”
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Mexican non-GMO protestor. Courtesy of: notifamanacional |
The international ETC Group warns that
technical approaches as proposed by industry and some governments will not
bring any solutions: “GURTs (genetic use restriction technologies, also known
as “Terminator”), are a set of engineering technologies to make seeds sterile
in the second generation and are proposed by the biotech industry as an answer
to “biosafety”, but in reality they only serve to stop farmers from reproducing
seeds. There are scientific reports indicating that GURTS will not function as
predicted and implicate new and additional risks. These technologies are under
a moratorium at the CBD because of the risks they present to biodiversity,
indigenous and local communities, but despite the moratorium some countries are
discussing their release”, says Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group Latin America
Director.
The organisations signing up to the
call are aiming to mobilise further support from civil society and will bring
the issue to the meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
and the Convention on Biological Diversity, in September/October 2014 in South
Korea.
Contacts:
Elena
Alvarez-Buylla, Laboratorio de Genetica Molecular, Desarrollo y Evolucion de
Plantas Instituto de Ecologia (Dpto de Ecologia Funcional), Mexico, eabuylla@gmail.com
Maria Carrascosa Garcia,
Red de Semillas, Telf. +34650102339 maria_carrascosa@riseup.net
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