Brussels, Belgium
June 24, 2004Today, a
new era for plant biotechnology in Europe is promised as a
European technology platform on plant genomics and biotechnology
is launched.
"We applaud the very important
signal given by Commissioner Busquin and the European Commission
through the establishment of a European Plant Genomics and
Biotechnology Platform," says Feike Sijbesma, Chairman of
EuropaBio, the European
association for bioindustries.
Innovation in agriculture over
the past 30 years has allowed farmers and consumers to beat
inflation on farm products and has secured a plentiful supply of
safe, high quality food. Plant science through the rapidly
expanding area of genomics and biotechnology continues the
agricultural research legacy and offers new ways to fight plant
diseases, pests and weeds. Exciting new opportunities to improve
the nutritional content of food, enhanced vegetable oils and the
suppression of allergens are all on the horizon in plant science
research.
EuropaBio hopes that this
initiative will bring research in the field of plant genomics
and biotechnology back to Europe and stimulate the European
research sector - both public and private - to find European
solutions for European problems. "Europe is in the midst of a
life sciences revolution: there are now 1500 new companies doing
research into the life sciences and creating a new knowledge
based bio-economy," says Feike Sijbesma. "The use of
biotechnology to produce biomass, bio-energy, bio-plastics and
bio-textiles from plant products has the potential to
revolutionise agriculture. It is not only foods and feeds that
farmers will produce; plants will be the source of our fuels,
compostible plastics, environmentally friendly cleaning agents
and even our medicines."
EuropaBio, the European
Association for Bioindustries, has 33 corporate members
operating worldwide and 24 national biotechnology associations
representing some 1200 small and medium sized enterprises
involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and
distribution of biotechnology products.
BACKGROUND
Brussels, 14 April 2004
What are the benefits of GM
crops and what can they do?
Developing varieties of crop, vegetable and fruit plants to meet
the needs of the agri-food chain and consumers.
Needs related to crop plants
can be broken down into two major types, farmer needs (these
relate to the growing and agronomic characteristics of a plant)
and user needs
(these concern the quality and range of derived
products from the harvested product).
The plant breeder develops
cultivars to meet both sets of needs and, what is not well
recognised is that, the final consumer benefits from
improvements in both agronomic and quality characteristics.
Meeting the needs of the farmer
results in a stable supply of consistently high quality product
–stability in production for citizens in the developed world
means a stable and affordable price. In lesser developed
countries, meeting the agronomic needs may mean the difference
between a harvest and no harvest at all. It is evident that
meeting farmers’ agronomic needs benefits all humankind.
Stable production also benefits
food processors, and it is here that the second type of need is
met. Processors and users demand all sorts of quality
characteristics from crop plants, dependent on their end
product. Healthier oils, increased levels of vitamins, proteins
and amino acids are examples. While these primarily benefit
consumers in the developed world, some, such as increased levels
of essential vitamins and other nutrients, also benefit those in
the developing world.
|
Approved GM crops to date – what do they
offer ? |
Sugar Beet - Beta vulgaris
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance:
-
Glyphosate (Roundup)
-
Glufosinate ammonium
|
Herbicide tolerant GM
sugar beet offers farmers more management choices.
It also offers farmers simpler control of otherwise
difficult to control related weeds (e.g. wild beet) |
Oilseed Rape - Brassica napus
L.
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance:
-
Oxynil
-
Glyphosate (Roundup)
-
Glufosinate ammonium
-
Imidizolinone
|
Herbicide tolerant GM oil
seed rape offers farmers more management choices.
It also offers farmers simpler control of otherwise
difficult to control related weeds (e.g. wild mustard
sinapis arvensis). Many such weeds also lower the
quality of the harvested product.
Herbicide tolerant GM
oil seed rape offers new management possibilities (in
particular a reduction in the need for ploughing and
soil cultivation) that can lead to reduced soil erosion
which itself leads to the protection of the structure
and biodiversity of the soil and an increase in the
soil’s organic matter content. This also leads to
savings on CO2 emission thanks to less fuel being used.
The newer herbicides
used on GM crops are much more environmentally benign
than older herbicides. |
|
Male Sterility Hybrid
System |
Higher yielding hybrid GM
oil seed rape can provide a greater yield for farmers,
which means farmers can produce more from the same area
of land. |
Product quality characteristics:
Fatty Acid/Lauric
Low Linolenic |
Oil seed rape has been
modified to produce healthier vegetable oils with
reduced hydrogenation: this means little or no trans
fatty acids in the end product – a healthier vegetable
oil.
Speciality uses of GM
oil seed rape (e.g. increasing the lauric content for
use in soaps) provide new opportunities for farmers to
supply new markets. |
Carnation - Dianthus
caryophyllus
Product quality characteristics:
Changed colour
Delayed senescence |
GM carnations have been
modified to produce flowers with new and different
colours or to last longer when cut. This opens up new
markets for farmers, horticulturalists and expands
consumer choice. |
Chicory - Chichorium intybus
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance
Male sterility |
Herbicide tolerant GM
chicory allows farmers new options for weed control in
this minor crop. Male sterility offers the opportunity
to more easily breed hybrid varieties that will provide
higher yields. |
Cotton - Gossypium hirsutum
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance:
-
Oxynil
-
Glyphosate (roundup)
-
Glufosinate ammonium
-
Imidizolinone
|
Herbicide tolerant GM
cotton offers farmers greater management choices in weed
control and the use of newer more environmentally benign
herbicides. |
|
Insect resistance
|
Insect resistant GM cotton
offers farmers massive benefits in insect pest control
with huge savings on pest control products and energy
use.
Insect resistant GM
cotton makes growing cotton much more environmentally
benign, with huge benefits to wildlife in and around
cotton fields.
Insect resistant GM
cotton is important in lesser developed countries as it
can mean the difference between a cotton harvest or no
harvest. Large reductions in spraying mean that families
do not need to spend lots of time collecting water. |
Maize - Zea mays
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance:
-
Oxynil
-
Glyphosate (Roundup)
-
Glufosinate ammonium
-
Imidizolinone
Male sterility Hybrid
System
Insect resistance to the European
corn borer
Insect resistance to the corn root
worm |
Herbicide tolerant GM
maize offers farmers more management options with better
weed control, more environmentally benign herbicides and
more crop produced per land area.
GM maize breeding
techniques make for easier hybrid seed production and
management.
Insect resistant GM
maize hugely reduces insect damage (though this is
dependent on infestation levels of European Corn Borer
in different years)
Insect resistant GM
maize offers the grower, insect management with less
spraying, less effects on the environment and non-target
pests.
Insect resistant GM
maize results in less wound damage to plants, and
consequently less infection from fungus and a reduction
in harmful mycotoxins that are cancer causing.
Because maize is a
major crop for animal feed, less damage to the crop
makes for a high quality feed for healthier animals.
Insect resistant GM
maize reduces pest control inputs, energy consumption
and green house gas emissions.
Insect resistant GM
maize gives farmers higher yields from less land. |
Melon - Cucumis melo
Product quality characteristics:
Delayed ripening |
GM melons can retain taste
and nutrients for longer giving consumers an all year
round supply of good melons and extended shelf life
while producers get an extra time margin to cover long
supply chains. |
Papaya - Carica papaya
Product quality characteristics:
Yellow ring spot virus resistance |
Papaya ring spot virus
resistant GM papaya has saved the Hawaiian papaya
industry from ruin. It offers huge benefits to farmers,
and a much better, cleaner fruit.
This virus resistant GM
papaya is of benefit to small scale family growers in
lesser developed countries for production of high
quality fruit. |
Potato - Solanum tuberosam
Agronomic characteristics:
Colorado potato beetle resistance |
GM potatoes that are
resistant to the Colorado Beetle offer huge benefits to
farmers as they provide more consistent yields from
season to season.
Colorado Beetle
resistant GM potatoes offer huge environmental benefits:
they reduce pest control inputs, energy consumption, and
greenhouse gases |
Numerous (other) virus
resistances |
Virus resistant potato
varieties require far less control of the insects that
transmit the virus, thus less spraying and less energy
use, reduced greenhouse gas emissions. |
Rice - Oryza sativa
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance
|
GM rice offers a big
benefit to farmers in areas with very difficult to
control “red” rice weeds. |
Soybean - Glycinmax
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance:
-
Glufosinate ammonium
-
Glyphosate (Roundup)
|
Herbicide tolerant GM
soybeans offer new choices and big advantages to
farmers, in weed management practices.
Herbicide tolerant GM
soybeans offer huge environmental benefits as farmers
move to low or zero ploughing. This protects soil
biodiversity, helps reduce energy use, increases CO2
sequestration in the soil as organic matter and reduces
CO2 emissions.
Herbicide tolerant GM
soybean offers greater stability and improvements in
yields.
Herbicide Tolerant GM
Soybean offers newer more environmentally benign weed
control options. |
Product quality
characteristics:
Modified oil content |
GM Soybean provides
farmers with opportunities to produce higher quality and
speciality vegetable oils (e.g. High content of oleic
acid for more healthy vegetable oil and specialty oils
for purposes like printing, paint, etc.) |
Sunflower - Helianthus annous
Agronomic characteristics:
Novel Herbicide Tolerance |
Herbicide tolerant GM
sunflower offers farmers greater choice in managing
difficult to control weeds in this crop. |
Tomato - Lycopersicon
esculentum
Agronomic characteristics:
Virus resistance
Insect resistance |
Virus and insect resistant
GM tomatoes offer big benefits to growers in terms of
stable yield but also greatly improved quality of
harvested fruit.
Virus and insect
resistant GM tomatoes use less pest control inputs, less
energy and leave a smaller environmental footprint where
they are grown. |
Product quality
characteristics:
Delayed ripening
Enhanced quality for
processing |
GM tomatoes can be
harvested ripe, rather than green from the plants. This
in turn enhances taste and quality.
GM tomatoes can make
better processed tomatoes that require less processing.
Reduced processing also requires less energy and so
saves on greenhouse gas emissions. |
|
|
