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Pluto Press - Andy Rees

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258 pages

English

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Description

Written by a leading campaigner for GM Watch, one of the world's leading lobbying groups, this book reveals the huge issues that are at stake.

Genetically modified food has been headline news for years, but it's difficult to know how far the genetic revolution has affected our lives. Is the food on our shelves free of genetically engineered ingredients? How much power do food corporations wield? Andy Rees provides the answers. He shows that, while corporations that produce genetically modified food have met with resistance in Europe, their hold on the US market is strong. They're also expanding operations in less-regulated countries in Africa, Asia and the former Soviet bloc.

The US has launched a legal suit to attempt to force the European market open to genetically modified food. What does the future hold? This brilliantly readable book tells us all we need to know.
Acknowledgements

Foreword

Abbreviations-Acronyms

1. Introduction

2. An Overview

3. The Players

4. Exposing the Wild Claims Made by the Biotech Lobby

5. The Risks and Dangers of GMOs

6. The Biotech Lobby’s Dirty Tricks Department – Part 1

7. The Biotech Lobby’s Dirty Tricks Department – Part 2

8. Setbacks for the Biotech Lobby

9. A More Constructive Way Forward

10. A Last Word

Resources

References

Index

Sujets

Social Aspects

Sciences et techniques

Technology

Engineering

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 août 2006
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849642965
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Genetically Modified Food A Short Guide for the Confused

ANDY REES

P Pluto Press LONDON • ANN ARBOR, MI

First published 2006 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

www.plutobooks.com

The right of Andy Rees to be identiﬁed as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN ISBN

0 7453 2440 1 hardback 0 7453 2439 8 paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England

To My Parents

Cont

AcknowledgementsForewordAbbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction

An Overview Setting the scene A brief recent history What is Genetic Engineering and who will beneﬁt? Does anyone want GM? How far has it gone? Have GMOs been tested? Are GMOs well regulated?

The Players Industry and its lobby groups International bodies and governments

Exposing the Wild Claims Made by the Biotech Lobby Genetic Engineering is the same as natural processes Genetic Engineering is precise and sophisticated GM Crops have been adequately tested GM crops are adequately regulated GM crops are safe GM crops will help feed the hungry millions GM crops will increase farmers’ incomes GM crops will be higher yielding GM crops will reduce pesticide usage GM crops must be successful as they are widely grown GM crops will help the environment GM crops will help farmers use marginal land GM golden rice will solve vitamin A deﬁciency The GM ‘Protato’ will solve protein deﬁciency

ix x xii

3 3 4 8 9 12 13 16

21 21 32

45 45 46 47 47 47 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 57 58

viii Genetically Modified Food

The Risks and Dangers of GMOs Problems growing GM crops GMOs in food More problems for farmers GMOs in the environment Genetic pollution is forever

The Biotech Lobby’s Dirty Tricks Department – Part 1 The corporate takeover of government – mechanisms The corporate takeover of government – results

The Biotech Lobby’s Dirty Tricks Department – Part 2 The corporate takeover of science The Corporate Takeover of the Media Other dirty tricks

Setbacks for the Biotech Lobby GMfree areas Attacks on ﬁeld trials People unite against GM crops Financial problems for the biotech industry GM wheat rejected A word of caution

A More Constructive Way Forward At a macro level What you can do

A Last Word

Notes to the TextResourcesIndex

59 59 68 79 91 94

95 95 118

131 131 146 156

165 166 167 168 169 170 171

173 173 176

180

182 234 239

Acknowledgements

Thanks very much to Dr Arpad Pusztai, Dr Susan Bardocz, Dr Stanley Ewen, and particularly to Dr Michael Antoniou who very kindly gave of their precious time to read and check the manuscript; also to Ben Ayliffe of Greenpeace, Jo Edwards of Transport 2000, Jochen Koester, Robert Parker of Amnesty International, author Jeffrey M. Smith, Brian Tokar, and Robert Vint of Genetic Food Alert UK for supplying information. I’m also very grateful to the following friends, who read the draft manuscript and gave their valuable opinions: Helen de Castres, Carolyne Hooper, Jane Leavey, Cathy Macbeth, Chris Park, and above all Claire Robinson, who in addition helped me in many other ways. A big thank you to all the authors and journalists whose work I have collated in order to make this book, and without whom the book would never have been written. I take my hat off to Jonathan Matthews for his ceaseless and pioneering work at GM Watch, which is an amazing resource that eases the workload of antiGM campaigners around the world. And ﬁnally, to the great unsung hero, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who issued a call to arms to the Natural Law Party to oppose Genetic Engineering before anyone else had blown the whistle.

Foreword Dr Michael Antoniou

The advocates of GM crops promised much at the time of their launch in 1996. We were reassured that GM was simply a natural extension of traditional plant breeding methods, only more precise and safer; GM herbicideresistant crops would only need one application of herbicide during a growing season; GM crops engineered to produce their own pesticide would not need spraying with any additional pesticide at all; crop management would be far easier and yields would increase as would profits for farmers. And this was only the beginning. Future developments would include nutritionally ‘enhancing’ our food crops. Now, a mere ten years after GM crops were introduced and these bold assertions made, it is clear that none of these promises have been met. Farmers found from the outset that they needed to apply herbicide anywhere between two and ﬁve times within a growing season and spray additional pesticide for adequate protection of GM crops. Rather than being easier to manage, GM crops have proved to be a nightmare as weeds and insect pests became resistant to the chemicals either used on or engineered into GM crops. Overall yields have at best been no better than with nonGM conventional varieties and in the case of GM soya have been consistently lower. Problems with GM crop performance have been common, with the latest being the GM cotton failures in India, which led the state of Andhra Pradesh to ban the growing of this crop within this region.The failure of GM crops to live up to their expectations will come as no surprise to anyone who knows and understands anything about modern concepts of molecular biology. GM technology is based upon a grossly outmoded understanding that genes function as isolated units of information that can be moved around between totally unrelated species with precision and totally predictable outcomes. We now know that this is simply not the case. Gene organisation within DNA is nonrandom and highly structured, with a clear tendency for genes possessing related functions to be clustered together, which assists in their coordinated control and balanced function. It is therefore no surprise that the GM process, which relies on the random insertion of

Foreword xi

an artiﬁcial gene construct from one organism into usually a totally unrelated one, for example the transfer of a virus, bacteria, unrelated plant or animal or human gene into a food crop, results in major disruptions in the function of host genes as well as the introduced GM gene. In addition, the GM process in general, through unknown mechanisms, turns out to be highly mutagenic; that is, it causes hundreds or even thousands of alterations throughout the host plant DNA, with potentially farreaching and damaging consequences. As a result it is not surprising to ﬁnd that there have now been numerous laboratory studies showing potential healthdamaging effects from the consumption of GM foods, which have been systematically denied and/or ridiculed by the authorities entrusted with the well being of people and the environment rather than followed up with further research to ascertain the cause of the problem. Why is it that despite these problems, GM crops have had such a large uptake albeit in a limited part of the world? The only way a ﬂawed technology that fails to meet its expectations such as GM crops can be brought to and maintained in the market is artiﬁcially, through manipulation and what many would call deception (promoted as something other than what it really is), by powerful corporate and political factors. Andy Rees’s book brilliantly sets out the ﬁrst totally comprehensive, wellreferenced account of the events that have taken place in the years since the appearance of GM crops on the marketplace. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, it expertly highlights the type of strategic activities carried out by the GM crop biotechnology industry and national governments to push an unnecessary, failed and failing technology on an unwanting world population.

Dr Michael Antoniou, Reader in Molecular Genetics at Kings College, University of London, Guy’s Hospital Campus

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ABC Agricultural Biotechnology Council (UK) ACRE Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (UK) ACNFP Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (UK) ARM Antibiotic Resistant Marker gene BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) BIO Biotechnology Industry Organization (US) BMA British Medical Association (UK) BtBacillus thuringiensisCaMV Cauliﬂower mosaic virus CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research DEFRA Department of the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (UK) DFID Department for International Development (UK) EC European Commission EPA Environmental Protection Agency (US) EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN) FDA Food and Drug Administration (US) FoE Friends of the Earth (international environmental NGO) FSA Food Standards Agency (UK) FSEs Farm Scale Evaluations (UK) GE Genetic Engineering GEAC Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (India) GM Genetically Modiﬁed GMOs Genetically Modiﬁed Organisms GURT Genetic Use Restriction Technology ha Hectare (1 Ha = 2.475 acres; 1 acre = 4,840 sq yds) HGT Horizontal Gene Transfer HT Herbicide Tolerant HYV HighYielding Variety IARCs International Agricultural Research Centres IMF International Monetary Fund ISAAA International Service for the Acquisition of AgriBiotech Applications

xii

Abbreviations and Acronyms xiii

ISIS Institute of Science in Society JIC John Innes Centre (UK) MAFF Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (UK) MAS MarkerAssisted Selection NFU National Farmer’s Union (UK) NGO Non Governmental Organisation OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PR Public Relations rBGH Monsanto’s recombinant (GM) Bovine Growth Hormone rBST recombinant bovine somatotropin (synonymous with rBGH) RR Roundup Ready RS Royal Society (UK) RSPB Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK environmental NGO) SAP Structural Adjustment Programme SAS Sense About Science (UK) TNC Transnational Corporation TRIPS Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement (WTO) UN United Nations USAID US Agency for International Development USDA US Department of Agriculture WFP World Food Programme (UN) WHO World Health Organization (UN) WTO World Trade Organization WWF World Wide Fund for Nature Conservation (international environmental NGO)