Genetically modified crops: policy and globalisation issues

Dr. Martin J. Hodson

The Questions• How?• Why?• What?• Environment?• Food?• Ethics?• Theology?• Business?• Politics?• Globalisation?

The Globalisation Problem• The issues we face here are not necessarily

related to whether GM Crops are a “good thing” or not.

• Like most technologies it is how they are used, and who they are used by that are the biggest problems.

• The globalisation problems are really just a symptom of a wider problem in agriculture and society.

Where?

Where?

0102030405060708090

NorthAmerica

LatinAmerica

Africa Europe Asia &Australia

Millions hectares

Millions hectares

Where?

1 2

3

North America

1980

1980 to 1996• 1983 genetically modified tobacco resistant

to an antibiotic• 1985 first GM crop trials• 1993 US Food and Drug Administration

allows companies to market GM seed• 1994 Flavr Savr tomato, is approved in the

US• 1996 Herbicide-tolerant GM soya bean

available in US

Who produces GM Crops?

• 2008- Monsanto produced more than 90% of GM crops worldwide. Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, Dow and BASF make the rest.

• But patents begin to expire in 2014.• Rise of GM crop research and production in

China, India etc.

2012GM Percentages of the top 3 crops grown in the USA:Maize (Corn) 88%Cotton 94%Soybean 93%Source: USDA

The Opponents- N. America

Opposition takes the form of:1) Battles over patent law.2) Worries over food safety.3) Battles over food labelling.

Percy Schmeiser (1997 onwards)“Now, at 70, I am involved with this fight with Monsanto. I stood up to them because a farmer should never give up the right to use his own seed. I felt very strongly about it because my grandparents came here from Europe in late 1890s and early 1900s to open this land, to be free, and to grow what they wanted to grow. Now we are going back to a feudal system that they left because they were not free—basically we are becoming serfs of the land.”

Roundup ready canola (oilseed rape).

Percy Schmeiser (image: Wikimedia Commons)

19 Feb 2013. Bowman vs Monsanto

US Supreme Court

2010- USA

In a Deloitte 2010 Food Survey more than a third of US consumers were very or extremely concerned about eating genetically modified foods, down 3 percent from 2008.

California Proposition 37 (2012)

Yes or No Votes Percentage

Yes 6,088,714 48.59%

No 6,442,371 51.41%

TOTAL 12,531,085 100%

Genetically Engineered Food Labelling- Election Results

22 Feb. 2013

• New Jersey• A coalition presses

the state to become the first in the United States to label genetically engineered food

UK & Europe

Early history in UK• 1994 The first GM food, the Flavr Savr

tomato (Calgene), is approved in the US• 1996 GM tomato paste arrives in Britain.• Sold well at first, but withdrawn by 1999.• 2003 GM Nation Debate• “Frankenfoods”

Frankenfoods

Why so little GM in UK?

Great Plains

The Cotswolds

Worries Associated with Food

Horse meat

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)"Mad Cow Disease"

Foot and Mouth

Oxford Farming Conference: 3 Jan. 2013

“We should not be afraid of making the case to the public about the potential benefits of GM beyond the food chain - for example, reducing the use of pesticides and inputs such as diesel. I believe that GM offers great opportunities but I also recognise that we owe a duty to the public to reassure them that it is a safe and beneficial innovation.”

Owen Paterson (UK Environment Secretary) Image: Wikimedia Commons

Oxford Farming Conference : 3 Jan. 2013

"I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment."

"My conclusion is very clear: the GM debate is over. It is finished. We no longer need to discuss whether or not it is safe – over a decade and a half with three trillion GM meals eaten there has never been a single substantiated case of harm. You are more likely to get hit by an asteroid than to get hurt by GM food."

Mark Lynas

Guardian Poll3 Jan. 2013

Are you convinced that GM food is both safe and beneficial?

Yes 28%No 72%

Science 22 Feb. 2013 The GMO Stalemate in Europe

Louise O. Fresco, Editorial:“The European Union (EU) differs from most of the world in its strong opposition to the use of genetic modification in agriculture.”“Europe’s lack of trust in GMOs reflects a wider distrust of science.”“….. efforts to ease acceptance of genetic modification have failed.”

Developing World

Golden RiceGolden rice produces beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, in the grain. The idea is to produce a fortified food to be grown and consumed in areas with a shortage of dietary vitamin A.Published in Science (2000) an eight-year project by Ingo Potrykus & Peter BeyerFirst field trials 2004Potrykus- golden rice to be distributed for free to subsistence farmers.

A US$10,000 cut off between humanitarian and commercial use was set. So if a farmer of golden rice makes less than $10,000 per year, no royalties need to be paid. In addition, farmers are permitted to keep and replant seed.

Image: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

“In short, Golden Rice will only be made available broadly to farmers and consumers in the Philippines if it is approved by national regulators and shown to reduce vitamin A deficiency in community conditions. This process may take another two years or more.” (IRRI, 21st Feb. 2013)

Golden Rice- latest

Terminator Genes

• Restricts the use of GM plants by causing second generation seeds to be sterile.

• Would prevent gene movement.• Never commercialised.• But if companies lost patent battles……

“I fear much of the problem of trust stems from the chemical company Monsanto, which from the start has been the world's largest producer, researcher and distributor of the crops. Its fierce use of patents, its heavy-handed lobbying of governments to deregulate markets, and its buying up of seed companies internationally have scared the public, raised concerns among small farmers the world over and denied the public the potential benefits.”John Vidal (The Observer) Sunday 3 February 2013

It is hard to trust GM when it is in the grip of a few global giants

Alternatives??“Genetically modified plants and GM fish may have a sustainable contribution to make in some environments just as ecological agriculture might be a superior approach to achieving a higher sustainable level of agricultural productivity.” International assessment of agricultural knowledge, science and technology for development (IAASTD, 2008)

SRI

India’s Rice Revolution“In a village in India’s poorest state, Bihar, farmers are growing world record amounts of rice- with no GM and no herbicide. Is this one solution to world food shortages?”John Vidal (The Observer) Saturday 16 February 2013

Globalisation Conclusion• Huge differences between Europe and N.

America• Key battles are over patents and food

labelling.• At the moment much is controlled by one

large company.• Even if the technology is proven to be “safe”

worries over multinational control are real and need to be addressed.