Huge UK resistance/Brazil seals port silos/GM Free Food Could Become "Impossible", Government Advisers Warn

28 April 2003

Huge UK resistance/Brazil seals port silos/GM Free Food Could Become "Impossible", Government Advisers Warn

Only 14% support GM foods (with only 3% saying they strongly support) -

see first and final items:
*Blair faces huge resistance to his support for GM crops
*GM Free Food Could Become "Impossible", Government Advisers Warn
*Brazil seals port silos holding GM Argentine corn
*Fears raised over dna survival in soil
*Please congratulate India's regulator for rejecting Monsanto's Bt cotton
- CONTACT DETAILS included
*Continuing Opposition To GM Foods

---

Blair faces huge resistance to his support for GM crops
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
28 April 2003
The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=401091

Opposition to genetically modified crops and food remains formidable, new research reveals, as the Government gears up to take the crucial decision on whether GM crops should be grown commercially in Britain.

An official national GM debate and three big reports on GM technology are all due in the next few months to prepare the way for the decision, which after three years' delay will finally be taken later this year by the Secretary of State for Environment in consultation with the Prime Minister.

Margaret Beckett and Tony Blair are both known supporters of GM technology and some reports from Whitehall have suggested that they have made up their minds in favour, and are prepared to force through the issue.

But unpublished data from the pollsters Mori shows that they will struggle to convince the public they are right. Although the GM issue has faded from the headlines compared with three or four years ago, opponents continue to outnumber supporters solidly, by four to one, with 56 per cent of the population against, and only 14 per cent in favour. Among women the figures are even starker, at six to one, with 61 per cent against and only 10 per cent in favour.

Opposition to GM goes across all political parties, social classes and income groups, the data shows: 56 per cent of Labour voters, 57 per cent of Tories, and 60 per cent of Liberal Democrats are against.

"The widespread extent of the opposition is surprising," said Philip Downing, Mori's head of environmental research. "Several years ago, when the row over GM was at its height, there was a clear majority against, and there still is. If the Government thinks that people are coming round to GM technology, this clearly shows that the opposition to it is still remarkably stable."

There is some hope for GM supporters in the fact that a fairly substantial body of people, 25 per cent, remain undecided.

A government-funded national debate on the GM issue is shortly to get under way, organised by an independent steering board, with conferences, meetings and discussions planned all over the country. It will report people's feelings to the Government in the summer and the Government has promised that it will "respond".

At the same time, two studies of the GM issue by senior Whitehall officials will be published: one is a review of the science, and the other a study of the costs and benefits of growing GM crops in the UK. Finally, the Government will publish the result of the farm-scale trials of GM crops, the three-year tests to see whether the new weedkillers that the crops are engineered to tolerate are particularly harmful to farmland wildlife. Then it will decide whether to approve GM crops.

The poll results suggest that if the decision is favourable, it will be in the teeth of public opposition. Peter Riley of Friends of the Earth said: "Mori's result showing four to one against GM foods suggests that the biotech industry and government have failed to convince people that GM crops are worth taking a chance on.

"If the Government was hoping to use the GM public debate to convince this substantial majority of consumers that they are wrong then it looks set for an uphill struggle. Supermarkets were forced to listen to the demands of their customers for GM-free food in the late 1990s. The question is, will this Government listen to the electorate and take UK farming and food production in a more sustainable direction than GM?"

*Mori surveyed a representative quota sample of 2,141 people aged 15 or over, between 6 and 10 February 2003.

---

GM Free Food Could Become "Impossible", Government Advisers Warn
Apr 28
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/gm_free_food_could_become.html

The question of whether GM and non-GM crops can "co-exist" moved up the political agenda today. A report to Government from GM advisors the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC), obtained by Friends of the Earth, reveals that if GM crops are commercially grown in the UK an internal report it would be difficult and in some places impossible to guarantee that any UK food is GM-free [1]. The AEBC's working group on coexistence is holding a meeting of stakeholders on Monday.

The UK Government is expected to make a decision on the future commercialisation of GM crops within the next 12 months. On Friday, the European Commission held a stakeholder meeting to discuss coexistence [2]. Commission proposals on GM contamination of seeds have stalled as coexistence has emerged as a major issue in the EU.

At present, major food companies and retailers require conventional crops used as food ingredients to contain no more than 0.1 per cent of GM materials, if they are to be labeled as meeting consumer demand for GM-free food. But the AEBC predicts that this permitted threshold will be exceeded if GM crops are commercially grown. Organic crops must not contain any detectable GM traits.

UK-produced conventional oilseed rape is an important source of vegetable oil for food manufacturers producing food free of GM ingredients. And organic crops of maize and oilseed rape are set to expand in line with the Government's Organic Action Plan, produced last year, which required more organic food to be grown in the UK.

Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner Pete Riley said: The AEBC has hit the nail on the head. If GM crops are given the commercial green light it will be a disaster for the majority of people that want to eat GM-free food. The European Commission is trying to pass the issue of coexistence and GM contamination to member states. The Government must wake up to the threat these products pose to farming, food and the environment. Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett must not allow GM to be commercially grown in the UK.

Last year Friends of the Earth launched its GM-Free Britain campaign to persuade local authorities to take steps to go GM-free. Councils are being asked to pledge not to use GM food in schools, prevent tenant farmers from growing GM crops and make a formal submission to the Government and the European Commission to stop GM crops being grown in their area. A growing number of Councils have already taken action. Cornwall County Council, South Gloucestershire Council, South Hams District Council and Norton Radstock and Bridport Town Councils have already voted to become GM-free areas, creating a GM-free band in the south west of England. Others are expected to follow suit. [See http://www.gmfreebritain.org[1]] - ENDS -

.. [1] http://www.gmfreebritain.org

---

BRAZIL SEALS PORT SILOS HOLDING GM ARGENTINE CORN

April 28, 2003 Reuters

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazil's environmental protection agency, Ibama, said last week 17,800 tonnes of genetically modified Argentine corn would be sealed in silos at the Port of Recife until its use and transportation were clearly defined.

Alberto Jose Rodrigues dos Santos, an inspector at Ibama's offices in Recife, was quoted as saying, "We were at the port yesterday and we notified those responsible about the ban on liberating the shipment (of corn)."

Brazil environment agency may halt imported GM corn

---

Fears raised over dna survival in soil
The Dominion Post (Wellington); April 25, 2003,

THE ability of dna to survive for long periods in soil has raised fears about mutant disease-causing bacteria and viruses. Oxford University professor Alan Cooper, an expert on ancient dna visiting New Zealand this week, spoke out on the dangers of genetic engineering. His findings that dna could survive for thousands of years in soils were published in international journal Science this month. "The ability of dna to persist in soils for so long was completely underestimated . . . and illustrates how little we know," Professor Cooper said. "The implication is that a great deal more research is needed before we could predict the effect of releasing GE plants." Soil bacteria could swap dna with other sources without sexual reproduction -- a phenomenon known as horizontal gene transfer -- with the risk of antibiotic resistance passing from GE crops into disease-causing bacteria, he said. "It raises serious issues about the release of altered genes into the environment, such as how long are they going to last, and where will they be able to disperse to." ---

from PV SATHEESH <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

I am delighted by so many enthusiastic responses for this news. In fact Ashok Sharma the leading agriculture writer for Financial Express states that The Bt Cotton for north India, Mech 915 which has been recently rejected by GEAC --- IS REJECTED FOREVER. This variety will not be considered again at all. Yes, if the company in question, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) again comes up with another Bt variety for north India, it would be considered for field trials. But the company may take some time to develop an alternate Bt cotton seed for north India.

Surely a very good news.

Ms Sushma Chowdhary's email id is: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Her telefax number, just in case: +91 11 24361712
[Ms Chowdhary is the Chair of the GEAC]

There is still time to congratulate her.

Thanks
satheesh

---

Continuing opposition to GM foods
28 April 2003

http://www.mori.com/polls/2003/meb2.shtml

The British public is still strongly opposed to Genetically Modified (GM) foods, according to new research by the MORI Social Research Institute.

The Government is entering a consultation process to decide how the UK responds to the controversial subject of GM food. It does so, however, with the public firmly opposed to the introduction of GM Foods - more than half the public (56%) opposes GM food, compared to one in seven (14%) who support it.

Opposition is remarkably stable across all political perspectives; 56% of intending Labour voters are against GM, as are 57% of intending Conservative voters and 60% of Liberal Democrat voters. Women are more likely to be opposed than men (61% versus 51%), but there is little difference by household income. Opposition is not a luxury for the affluent; 56% of households with a gross annual income of less than £17,500 oppose GM, as do 60% of households with an income of more than £50,000.

However, while there are very few active supporters of GM, one in four (25%) are neutral. Therefore, public opinion is spilt three ways; the majority opposed, a significant minority neutral, and only a small minority advocates.

Philip Downing, head of environmental research at MORI Social Research Institute, notes "The public is yet to be persuaded about GM food and shows little sign of softening its opposition, which has been relatively stable ever since the issue came into the media spotlight".

The result is part of MORI's own environment research, reported in full in the MORI Environment Research Bulletin. Other results include strong support for a 10p tax on supermarket plastic bags, huge support for renewables over nuclear power, and divided opinions on extending congestion charging to other UK towns and cities.

How strongly, if at all, would you say you support or oppose Genetically Modified food? %

Strongly support 3
Tend to support 11
Neither support nor oppose 25
Tend to oppose 26
Strongly oppose 30
Don't know 5

For a copy of the MORI Environment Bulletin, contact Philip Downing or visit the MORI website at www.mori.com/environment

Technical details
The Environment Research Bulletin Survey was carried out among a representative quota sample of 2,141 adults aged 15 years +, face-to-face and in-home across 201 sampling points in Great Britain between 6-10 February 2003. All data have been weighted to the known profile of the British Population.

MORI House
79-81 Borough Road
London
SE1 1FY
t: 020-7347 3000
f: 020-7347 3800