MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
January 8, 2007
New report: GM crops still not
performing
KUALA LUMPUR (MALAYSIA), LAGOS
(NIGERIA), BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), January 8,
2007
- A new report released on January 9
shows that genetically modified (GM) crops
have failed to address the main challenges
facing farmers around the world, and more
than 70% of large scale GM planting is still
limited to two countries (U.S. and
Argentina).
The new report, 'Who Benefits from GM
crops? An analysis of the global performance
of genetically modified (GM) crops 1996-2006'
[1] also notes that the 'second generation'
GM farm crops with attractive 'traits' long
promised by the industry has failed to
appear.
"No GM crop on the market today offers
benefits to the consumer in terms of quality
or price, and to date these crops have done
nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty in
Africa or elsewhere," said in Nigeria Nnimmo
Bassey of Friends of the Earth Africa.
"The great majority of GM crops cultivated
today are used as high-priced animal feed to
supply rich nations with meat," he added.
According to the report, GM crops
commercialized today have on the whole
increased rather than decreased pesticide
use, and do not yield more than conventional
varieties. The environment has not benefited
from them, and GM crops will become
increasingly unsustainable over the medium to
long term.
The Friends of the Earth International
report launch coincides with the annual
release of the "Global Status of
Commercialized Biotech" report of the
industry-sponsored International Service for
the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA) which promotes GM crops as a key
solution to hunger and poverty. The GM crops
industry continues to misleadingly claim that
GM crops play a role in solving world
hunger.
2006 A BAD YEAR FOR GM CROPS
-
In 2006 the US Department of
Agriculture, a chief proponent of GM crops,
for the first time acknowledged that GM
crop yields are not greater than those of
conventional crops, and a compelling number
of studies by independent scientists
demonstrate that GM crop yields are lower
than, or at best equivalent to, yields from
non-GM varieties.
-
In 2006 a European Union-wide survey of
public views reconfirmed the European
public's opposition to GM food.
-
In 2006 the rice food supply on four
continents was contaminated with an illegal
GM rice supposedly field-tested only until
2001, proving once again the inability or
unwillingness of the biotech industry to
control its products.
-
In the last decade cotton production
has declined in the majority of countries
that have adopted GM cotton, including
Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa
and Australia, and significant drops in GM
cotton production specifically are forecast
in 2006 for South Africa and Mexico.
-
As of December 2006 only four crops
(maize, cotton, soy and canola) with only
two traits (herbicide tolerance and insect
resistance) were widely cultivated by the
world's biggest producer of GM crops, the
United States, despite the fact that it
approved 71 distinct biotech 'events' for
commercial use so far.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
In Africa: Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the
Earth Africa, Tel: +234 8037274395 (mobile)
or +234 52602680 (office)
In Asia: Nizam Mahshar, Friends of the
Earth Malaysia, Tel: +60194777755
In Europe: Adrian Bebb, Friends of the
Earth Europe, Tel +4916094901163
In South America: Karen Nansen, Friends of
the Earth Uruguay, Tel: +598 99 524 003
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] The executive summary of the report is
available at
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007execsummary.pdf
(full report at
The full report is available
here
A three-page 'Highlights of the report' is
available at:
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/gmcrops2007highlights.pdf
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