Brussels, Belgium
December 4, 2007
The European Federation of
Biotechnology (EFB) is very concerned about the draft
decisions of the European Commission to reject two Bt maize
product submissions based on discredited scientific arguments
that have not been reviewed by its own independent scientific
body, the European Food Safety Authority.
In an open letter to Commissioner Stavros Dimas the EFB
President Marc van Montagu states that the draft decisions do
not have a scientific basis and they seem to have been made
without considering the consequences for Europe or the fact that
similar varieties have been growing in Europe for the past 9
years with high adoption rates with no adverse environmental
effects and in coexistence with conventional and organic
farming.
“The draft decisions fail to draw on a substantial body of
scientific data accumulated over several years and published in
the last 12 months that highlight the economic, environmental
and consumer benefits of Bt maize. A total of 63 peer-reviewed
publications attest to the fact that Bt toxin does not
accumulate in the soil and does not affect aerial and soil-based
non-target organisms, on the contrary, there is ample evidence
that non-target insects are severely threatened and reduced in
their populations by spraying pesticides.
In considering the environmental safety of Bt maize, it is
pertinent to note that Bacillus thuringiensis has been widely
used as an insecticide spray for the control of European corn
borer in Europe since 1938, when the first commercial Bt
preparation (Sporeine) came onto the market in France. Given
that Bt is a commonly used insecticide in organic agriculture
and given the current trend in the expansion of organic farming
in Europe, and the year-on-year northward spread of European
corn borer, it is inevitable that Bt spraying will be on the
increase.
The scientific data accumulated over recent years as part of
biosafety assessment dossiers compiled on the various Bt crop
varieties for commercial release will provide useful evidence
for assessing the environmental impact of organic farming. As
for the present time these environmental assessments of Bt
sprays with their much higher concentrations have not been
properly carried through, and also not published in peer
reviewed journals – this in contrast to the many peer reviewed
papers testifying no negative effects in soil and agricultural
environment of GM Bt crops.
Agriculture is vital to the European economy, and Europe stands
to gain much by the cultivation of new high performance crop
varieties. Bt maize ensures productivity in years of heavy
infestations and reduces the need for pesticides. In 2006, GM
maize varieties including these two products were planted on
25.2 million hectares around the globe, and on 62,187 hectares
in Europe. Spain has grown Bt maize for 9 years, and the
benefits of Bt maize to Spanish farmers are well documented:
average yield benefits have often been 10% and sometimes higher,
which adds €15 million income to Spanish growers. Recent field
trials in Italy showed that Bt maize performed better than
conventional varieties with yield increases of between 28 and 43
percent. These trials demonstrated that Bt maize can not only be
more profitable for farmers, but is healthier because of lower
contamination with hazardous fungal mycotoxins which represent a
significant health threat to humans and animals when present in
the food chain (Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006).
Farming systems are very diverse, from conventional to organic
or genetically modified (GM). This ensures that agriculture
provides an abundant and affordable supply of healthy food and
feed, and offers consumers more choice. The EU’s explicit policy
is that 'No form of Agriculture should be excluded from the
Union', and the European Commission asks Member States to
develop rules for the coexistence of different production
systems, like Bt maize and non-GM maize, all long term
scientific coexistence studies on maize demonstrate the
feasibility of coexistence.
The draft Commission Decisions are totally unacceptable, not
only for European farmers and consumers, but also set a terrible
example for other parts of the world that presently draft
guidelines for the cultivation of GM crops, since they look to
Europe as an example. This is especially true in the developing
world where there is an urgent need of new technologies to raise
agricultural productivity. Other GM strains of maize are under
development that will have enhanced nutritional quality or
tolerance to drought, and must be given the chance to reach
those who need them the most. It is a proven fact that in
developing countries Bt maize is healthier due to its much lower
content of mycotoxins, which have dramatic detrimental effect on
human health (cancer, spina bifidis)”.
The open letter to Stavros Dimas concludes that the
Commissioners proposals on not to approve the two Bt maize lines
for cultivation based on discredited scientific arguments would
not only undermine the EU’s own scientific advice and risk
assessment procedure but would also represent a significant
threat to the competitiveness of European farmers.
The full text of the open letter is available at the EFB
website:
http://www.efb-central.org/ |
|
