Activist chained to a conveyor belt at the Greek Oil Mills plant in Ahladi, Greece.
But the activities of this plant, it must be said, are still
perfectly legal in Europe. As the European Council of Ministers of
Agriculture meets in Brussels this week to decide on new
legislation about labelling of animal feed and refined food
ingredients made from GE products, perhaps it's time to recall why
consumers around the world are closing the door on the failed
experiment of genetically modified crops.
Watchmakers in boxing gloves
They probably yelled "it's alive!" when the crude,
trial-and-error process Monsanto researchers were working on
finally yielded the first live and growing transgenic plant in
1984. It was quite difficult to keep the newly invented plants
alive, as plant cells tend to behave uncontrollably when pieces of
genetic material from, say, jellyfish or viruses are inserted into
them at random.
From one perspective, genetic "engineers" have actually very
little idea of what they are doing. Human understanding of the way
genes code for the growth and functioning of living organisms is
still, even by admission of the scientists who work in this field,
very rudimentary. The daily routine of your average genetics lab is
enlivened now and then by a totally unexpected result from an
experiment that was intended to do something else. It's a case of,
as Lewis Thomas wrote, "knowing less and less about more and
more".
Nonetheless, millions of dollars were spent on research, and ten
years later the biotech industry was lobbying heavily for approval
of commercial planting of GE crops in order to recover their
investment. Regardless of the many uncertainties about what would
happen if they let these creations loose, the US Environmental
Protection Agency relented, and published a historic paper stating
that genetically modified plants were not fundamentally different
from natural ones.
Long-distance relationships
Heavily marketed and pushed onto farmers, GE crops caught on
mostly in the US and Argentina, which together comprise 90% of GE
acreage today, effectively becoming enormous laboratories for the
brave new technology. More than half a decade of large-scale
releases of GE crops has clearly shown that environmentalists were
not being paranoid after all when they warned about this being a
new form of pollution, and a self-reproducing, irreversible one at
that.
Having evolved to have long-distance sex, plants share their
genetic code through pollen, borne over long distances by wind or
insects. In Canada, herbicide-resistant canola weeds are beginning
to develop into a major weed problem in some zones. In Mexico,
although genetically manipulated corn has not been allowed to be
grown since 1998, scientists have found contamination of
traditional varieties from genetically modified corn. And there are
fears, that plants with foreign genes to confer them resistance to
herbicides could pass on this information to wild relatives,
leading to the development of 'super-weeds'.
New adventures in eating
Which brings us back to the fundamental lack of knowledge about
how genes work. The creation of genetically manipulated plants
involves the insertion of a foreign gene at random into the cells
of an organism. The way in which these genes interact with other
genes in the plant is largely unknown.
The fact that plant cells are manipulated to produce compounds
from organisms that have never been eaten, brings the issue of
allergies or toxicity to people that may not be uncovered until
much later. Bearing this in mind, regulatory authorities in the US
did not allow a variety of GE corn known as StarLink to be sold for
human consumption. Starlink was made to produce its own insecticide
and there were concerns of what effects this compound could have if
humans ate the corn directly. Alas, two years ago, despite special
safety measures, it was found that StarLink corn had found its way
into taco shells and other food products, and food had to be
withdrawn from supermarket shelves on a large scale.
If in doubt, hope for the best?
This stopped StarlLink cold in its tracks. But even if it had
not got out of control, it would still be used for animal feed. The
effect on humans of meat or milk from animals fed with GE feed is
largely unknown, and concerns from consumers remain unanswered by
regulatory authorities. Sound familiar? As the "mad cow disease"
crisis evolved the fact that there was no absolute scientific proof
of danger to humans prompted British policy-makers to say that
there was "zero" risk to people.
The ensuing disaster proved that decision-making in the face of
scientific uncertainty must lean towards precaution. Possible harm
from GE food may take years to be detected, and the effects could
be irreversible once the genes are out in the environment.
The meeting
The ministers meeting in Brussels must set an example to the
world. Biotech corporations will likely deploy their lobbying and
arm-twisting machinery during the meeting, but the ministers must
respond to the desires of their citizens and impose strict rules on
the import and labelling of genetically modified foods.
European Agriculture Ministers should ensure that new
legislation provides full transparency and decision making to the
consumers and that there will be no loopholes to allow GE products
in through the back door.
The owners of Greek Oil Mills met with us today and said they
sell non-GE soybeans. Our tests, carried out on samples taken from
their silos on a mobile lab on the MV Esperanza say otherwise.
Proper regulations would insure consumers are sure about what ends
up on their dining table.
Unscrupulous importers must stop bringing in genetically
contaminated material through the back door. There is absolutely no
need and no wish from the consumers and the vast majority of the
food industry for Genetically Modified Organisms.
But until the regulators listen to our voices as consumers,
there will be more and more of us chaining ourselves to conveyor
belts on this and other plants and spending uncomfortable nights...
simply demanding our right to eat natural, healthy food.