Environment

Greenpeace advocates immediate interim measures such as labelling GE ingredients and the segregation of GE crops from conventional ones.

Greenpeace also oppose all patents on plants, animals and humans, or genes from any life form. Life is not an industrial commodity. When we force life forms and our world's food supply to conform to human economic models rather than their natural ones, we do so at our own peril.

What is unknown

Despite recent advances, scientists have a very limited understanding of genetics, biology and ecosystem complexity. They cannot therefore predict the effects on the ecosystem of GE organisms. The precautionary principle suggests extreme caution.

History has shown that the destructive consequences of new technologies may not become apparent for many years. In the case of GE, the products of the technology are living organisms which could never have evolved naturally. They are capable of reproducing, mutating and moving within the environment and have the ability both to affect, and be affected by, their surroundings. The consequences of releasing them into the environment cannot be predicted.

Australia’s flagship scientific institute CSIRO has noted, “The knock-on, or indirect, consequences for farm management and for the natural environment are difficult to predict and a number of ecological risk assessment frameworks exist but it is not clear which of them is best for the Australian environment and the data required to carry out quantitative, probabilistic risk assessments of GMOs are lacking”.

Those wishing to release living organisms into the wild must be prepared to deal with uncertainty and to acknowledge that what we not know vastly outweighs what we do.

What is known

One thing is certain, however. Once harmful effects become apparent, it will already be too late. Damage caused by releasing GE organisms into the environment in many cases would be irreversible.

Despite the lack of knowledge and the uncertainty and irreversibility of the risks, the federal Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has authorised the commercial release of GE canola in Australia, virtually without condition.

Whilst these crops have not been planted on a large scale due to state-implemented moratoria, GE canola has been planted in small scale trials in a number of states.

Greenpeace believes GE organisms should not be released into the environment as there is not adequate scientific understanding of their impact on either the environment or human health.

Find out more:

The environmental impacts of GE