1.Activists: GM cotton unchecked
2.Controversy in Colombia as GM crops get green light
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1.Activists: GM cotton unchecked
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_16/01/2004_38480
Despite the official ban on cultivating genetically modified crops in Greece, independent testing found high quantities of GM cotton in this year’s output, the Greenpeace environmental group said yesterday.
Greenpeace activists mounted a protest outside the Agriculture Ministry in Athens, urging the government to seize all this year’s cotton crop and conduct wide-ranging tests for GM pollution.
"We found that GM seeds have been imported and sown, while the plants have been harvested," Greenpeace spokeswoman Myrto Pispini said. "These seeds were not caught by the official testing system."
Greenpeace tests found that six out of seven samples of cotton seed and kernels ”” used for animal fodder ”” from cotton mills in central Greece "contained alien genetic material."
In May, the Agriculture Ministry said it had tested 566 samples of cotton seeds imported for sowing, and only found three to be GM-positive. Two of the polluted shipments were destroyed, and the third returned to the US exporter.
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2.Controversy in Colombia as GM crops get green light
Lisbeth Fog
16 January 2004
Source: SciDev.Net
[BOGOTA] Controversy is growing in Colombia over the government's decision to go ahead with the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) cotton.
Colombian farmers have already planted 6,500 hectares of commercial Bt cotton - which has been genetically modified to resist the bollworm pest - in the north of the country, to be harvested in February or March. The government also plans to allow the planting of GM crops, such as maize, in other regions of the country.
But the government's move has been criticised by environmental groups, who argue that GM crops should not be planted without an 'environmental licence' - a certificate issued by the environment ministry authorising projects that may affect biodiversity, such as new roads and various industrial and agricultural activities.
"There has not been sufficient technical evaluation of the impact of introducing GM cotton," says German Velez, director of Fundacian SwissAid, a nongovernmental organisation that is campaigning against the introduction of GM crops in Colombia.
In response to such comments, Ana Luisa Diaz from the Colombian Institute of Agriculture, says that trials have shown that Bt cotton does not harm the environment or produce allergies in humans. "It reduces production risks and costs, as well as attacks of five [types of pest], and gives the farmer better yields," she says.
Carlos Gustavo Cano, the Colombian minister of agriculture, defends the government's decision to allow Bt cotton to be planted, arguing that the crop is "a very promising technological option which could improve our cotton".
And Rafael Mejà a, the director of the Colombian Society of Farmers said that even though his organisation encourages a variety of farming methods - including conventional, organic and GM techniques - "with GM crops we could be more competitive in certain products and markets".
In 2000, Colombia approved the commercial planting of GM blue carnation, but only for the export market. Universities and research centres across the country are also carrying out research in GM varieties of crops that are key to the Colombian economy, such as coffee, banana, sugarcane and tropical fruits.
But Velez complains that there has been little public debate about the use of GM crops in Colombia, and few surveys to assess public opinion on the issue. Indeed even the farming community seems to be deeply divided on the issue. In a survey carried out by the Colombian Society of Farmers last year, while 50 per cent of farmers said they would be willing to use GM technology, 46 per cent said they wouldn't, and 4 per cent were unsure
The Colombian Ministry of Agriculture points out that four other Latin American nations - Argentina, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay - have approved GM crops, and that more than a fifth of the world's GM crops are grown in Argentina. In contrast, however, the rest of Latin America grows only 1 per cent of the world's GM produce.