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23 january 2002
friends of the earth europe
AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY - AMERICAN
FARMERS WARN EUROPE NOT TO ADOPT
GMOs European agriculture will be
irreversibly contaminated within 5 years
American farmers, speaking at the French
National Assembly today, warned Europeans to
stay away from GMOs until outstanding
problems of cross- contamination and
liability have been resolved. If the European
Union abandons its moratorium on GMO
approvals and starts growing GM crops,
European agriculture will be irreversibly
contaminated within five years, they
warned.
The farmers - Percy Schmeiser from
Saskatchewan, Canada, and Tom Wiley from
North Dakota, USA - are visiting Europe to
share their personal experiences of GMO
contamination. Both have suffered
considerable financial loss as a result of
their conventional crops being contaminated
by neighbouring farms where GMOs were
grown.
Schmeiser is the victim of a legal battle
with Monsanto as a result of their Roundup
Ready oilseed rape being found on his land,
although he never purchased or intended to
grow the seed. Wiley lost 10,000 US$ when his
non-GM soya, grown for export to Japan, was
found to be contaminated by GM soya.
In Paris today, Wiley said that some U.S.
farmers wanted to give the other side of the
story and to counteract the impression that
all Americans embrace agricultural
biotechnology. "The choice to grow non-GM
crops has been taken away", he said. "Our
agricultural university predicts that this is
the last year that farmers will be able to
buy non- GM soya seed". Schmeiser, whose
court case with Monsanto has required him to
mortgage the family farm to cover legal
costs, painted a similarly depressing
picture. "As a result of contamination, there
is probably no seed available anymore in
western Canada for non-GM oilseed rape", he
said.
Speaking on behalf of Friends of the Earth
Europe, who organised the farmers visit to
Brussels and Paris*, Gill Lacroix said that
the American farmers' experiences must be
taken on board by the EU's farmers and
decision-makers.
"These people are brave enough to stand up
and tell it how it really is, despite
incredible pressure from the biotech
industry", she said. "If Europe does not
want to go down that road of no return, the
questions of GMO contamination and
liability will have to be addressed.
Unfortunately, European citizens are being
let down by the European Commission's
legislative proposals. The
Traceability/Labelling proposal allows
thresholds for contamination and the
proposal for an Environmental Lliability
Directive, tabled today, completely fails
to resolve the issue of liability for
GMOs".
For more information:
Gill Lacroix, FoE Europe (Brussels), T.
02/542.0182, mobile
0476/244161
(* The American farmers' tour to Paris was
co-organised by Friends of the
Earth Europe and the French NGO
Inf'OGM.)
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