How GM Crops Hurt Farmers

7/29/2019 How GM Crops Hurt Farmers

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Farmers Face Economic Loss

The inancial burden associaed wih conaminaion issigniican. Some o he coss o armers include loss omarke access (especially expors o sensiive markes likehe European Union), long-erm invesmens associaedwih he crop or one ype o producion and prevenaivemeasures pu ino place o avoid conaminaion. Prevena-ive measures ha non-GM and organic armers pu inplace include using bufer zones ha resul in less cropyield, record-keeping, esing and surveillance o a crop,and segregaion, mainenance and cleaning in all seps ohe supply chain. Addiionally, consumers ineresed inbuying non-GM oods know ha hey can rely on organic

and non-GM labeled ood producs, bu he hrea o con-aminaion reduces he conidence ha consumers have inhose producs. The undermining o consumer conidenceis ye anoher cos o conaminaion, or even jus o hehrea o conaminaion.

U.S. armers who inenionally grow GM crops are norequired o plan non-GM bufer zones o preven conami-naion unless his is sipulaed in he arms permi romhe U.S. Deparmen o Agriculure (USDA).7 Ye even heuse o bufer zones has proven inefecive because heseareas are usually no large enough o preven conamina-

ion.8

Daa gahered by he Organic Trade Associaion illus-raes ha some grain buyers rejec loads wih more han0.9 percen GM presence, resuling in 0.25 percen o non-GM soybean and 3.5 percen o non-GM corn loads being

rejeced. A rejecion by he loads inended buyer meansa los premium or ha non-GM produc. The esimaedloss rom marke rejecions alone is $40 million annually.9

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Paths of Contamination

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Organic dairy armers in he Unied Saes already acedificuly securing organic eed, and his challenge willonly worsen i GM alala begins o conaminae organicalala.10 The USDAs approval o Roundup Ready alala

in 2010 highlighs he signiican ramiicaions ha con-aminaion can have or organic producers. Alala is hemos imporan eed crop or dairy cows.11 Organic dairyarmers receive a price premium or heir milk, bu heyalso have producion coss o $5 o $7 more per hundredpounds o milk 38 percen higher han convenionaldairies.12 I GM conaminaion eliminaes his premiumha is mosly aken up by higher organic producioncoss, hese arms could be unproiable.

Growers o non-GM and organic sugar bees and relaedspecies such as able bees and chard also ace

he possibiliy o conaminaion rom nearby RoundupReady sugar bee growers and he poenial economicefecs associaed wih a ained harves.13 Over 50percen o U.S. sugar bee seed producion occurs inOregons Willamete Valley, also home o abou hal oswiss chard seed producion.14 The Willamete ValleySpecialy Seed Associaion requires ha GM plansremain hree miles away rom non-GM chard and beeseed producers, ye sugar bee pollen has been known oravel as ar as ive miles.15

I conaminaed, non-GM and organic armers can also

lose access o inernaional markes. Many oher coun-ries have sricer GM regulaions and labeling require-mens han he Unied Saes. Despie he advancedgrain-handling sysem in he Unied Saes, GM grainshave conaminaed non-GM shipmens and devasaed

U.S. expors. The Governmen Accounabiliy Oficeideniied six known unauhorized releases o GM cropsbeween 2000 and 2008.16

In 2000, Japan discovered GM SarLink corn, which wasno approved or human ood, in 70 percen o esedsamples, even hough SarLink represened under 1percen o oal U.S. corn culivaion.17 Aer he SarLinkdiscovery, Europe banned all U.S. corn impors, cosing

U.S. armers $300 million.18 In Augus 2006, unapprovedGM Libery Link rice was ound o have conaminaedconvenional rice socks.19 Japan haled all U.S. riceimpors and Europe imposed heavy resricions, cosinghe U.S. rice indusry $1.2 billion.20

The Unied Saes is aggressively seeking o orce israding parners o overurn heir sringen rules on GMproducs. The U.S. Trade Represenaive is lobbying rad-ing parners, including he EU, o remove unjusiiedimpor bans and resricions o U.S. bioech producs,and is even pressing counries o eliminae GE labeling

requiremens.21 By May 2010, no more han 66,000 onso all EU soya impors used as livesock eed (less han0.2 percen o he 32 million oal) were ound o conainEU non-approved GM soya.22 Asynchronous approvalwas used as a preex o remove Europes zero oleranceor unauhorized GMOs in animal eed in 2011,23 and in2012, he European Commission announced is ineniono able proposals o remove zero olerance or unau-horized GMOs in ood as well.24

Uninended consequences o GM conaminaion coninueo arise. In Sepember 2011, he European Cour o Jusice

ruled ha honey conaminaed wih GM pollen allsunder normal GM auhorizaion regulaions, meaningi mus go hrough he ull ood saey assessmen andauhorizaion process, and i mus carry a GM label.25

In Ocober 2011, Food & Waer Europe wroe o heEuropean Commission asking or inormaion on howhis ruling was being implemened. The Commissionresponded in November 2011 saying i is acivelyworking on his issue.26 The Commission has ableda proposal o change he deiniion o pollen rom aningredien o honey o a consiuen, bu i is unclear

i or how his honours he leter or he spiri o he Euro-pean Cour o Jusice rulingor how i helps beekeepersor consumers.27

Legal Implications ofPatented Gene Contamination

Besides he hrea o economic harm rom conamina-ion, armers who uninenionally grow paened GMseeds or who harves crops ha are cross-pollinaedwih GM rais could ace cosly lawsuis by bioechnol-ogy irms or seed piracy. By 2007, Monsano had iled

112 lawsuis agains U.S. armers or paen inringe-men, recovering beween $85.7 and $160.6 million.28 Aleas one armer conends ha he was sued when hiscanola ields were conaminaed wih GM crops romneighboring arms.29


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Recommendations

GM conaminaion o non-GM and organic ields is agrowing problem in he Unied Saes ha will onlyinensiy wih he approval o more GM crops. In ordero preserve diferen agriculural producion mehods,agriculural biodiversiy and consumer choice, a ullregime o sric economic and environmenal liabiliyshould hold bioechnology companies ha paen GM

seeds accounable or any harm caused by he presenceo heir paened echnology in non-GM and organiccrops or he wider environmen.

Righ now, i armers, ood companies, reailers orconsumers are harmed by conaminaion or loss o heirmarkes, i is virually impossible or hem o recoverrom hese damages. Neiher he U.S. ederal govern-men nor EU auhoriies have deal wih his burden,even as he USDA coninues o approve a seady sreamo new GM crops or culivaion. Regulaing auhoriiesmus address he issue o liabiliy or conaminaion by

GM crops and require ha he coss o GM conamina-ion be borne by he bioech companies ha creaed heechnology and hold he paens on hese seeds.

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How GM Crops Hurt Farmers