Fwd: Guardian poll on GM crops
Simon Fairlie
chapter7 at tlio.org.uk
Sat Jan 5 13:37:46 GMT 2013
>
>
> This takes one click. The poll closes soon. Pl circulate if you can.
> Thanks
> Charlotte
>
> From: "GMWatch" <gmwatch-weekly at gmwatch.eu>
> Date: 4 January 2013 14:40:17 GMT
> To: charlotte at tuxdeluxe.org
> Subject: Conflicts-of-interest in UK on GM crops
> Reply-To: "GMWatch" <gmwatch-weekly at gmwatch.eu>
>
>
>
> TAKE ACTION: The Guardian are running a poll in response to UK
> Government Minister Owen Paterson's claim that GM "is a safe and
> beneficial innovation". The GM lobby are calling out the vote so
> please vote 'No'. The poll closes soon:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2013/jan/03/is-gm-food-
> safe-and-beneficial
>
> SPECIAL NOTE: 'Biotech's 10 biggest PR disasters of 2012' now has a
> different link:
> http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14548
>
> CONTENTS
> 1.GeneWatch warns of conflicts-of-interest on GM crops
> 2.Oxford Farming Conference - Response to Owen Paterson / Mark
> Lynas talks
> 3.Ministers launch PR drive to shake off 'Frankenstein food' image
> of GM crops
> 4.Bad weather prompting more British farmers to consider GM use
>
> EXTRACTS: "It is clear that ministers have done a dodgy deal with
> the GM industry to promote GM crops in Britain and that lobbying in
> parliament is not led by the interests of constituents" - Dr Helen
> Wallace (item 1)
>
> "Farmers and the public have been promised the earth on GM yet the
> results to date have been poor. The UK Government's own farm scale
> experiment showed that overall the GM crops were worse for British
> wildlife. US Government figures show pesticide use has increased
> since GM crops have been grown there because superweeds and
> resistant insects have multiplied." - Dr Tom Macmillan (item 2)
>
> "Owen Patterson says that people are eating meat from animals fed
> of GM feed without realising it. That is because the British
> Government has consistently opposed moves to label to give
> consumers accurate information, and he should put that right by
> immediately introducing compulsory labelling of meat and milk from
> animals fed on GM feed." - Peter Melchett (item 3)
>
> "Our position is straightforward: we don't allow the use of any GM
> ingredients in our own-brand food and our customers aren't asking
> us to stock them." - Waitrose, supermarket chain (item 4)
>
> "Consumers drive the supply chain so unless there is a change in
> consumer demand there are no implications apart from ensuring there
> is sufficient supply of non-GM commodities around the world." -
> Andrew Opie, food director of the British Retail Consortium (item 4)
> ---
> ---
> 1.GeneWatch warns of conflicts-of-interest in parliament on GM crops
> GeneWatch, 4 January 2012
> http://www.genewatch.org/article.shtml?als[cid]=570252&als[itemid]
> =571801
>
> GeneWatch UK warned today that All-Party Parliamentary Group on
> Science and Technology in Agriculture is being used by Monsanto and
> other GM companies to lobby on behalf of their business interests
> (1). Funders of the group include the industry body the
> Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), which represents the
> major GM crop companies (BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences,
> Pioneer (DuPont), Monsanto and Syngenta).
>
> GeneWatch is highlighting the role of the group following
> revelations in the Times this week that many All-Party
> Parliamentary Groups are being funded by commercial interests, and
> Environment Secretary Owen Paterson's speech in favour of
> commercial growing of GM crops in Britain.
>
> George Freeman, MP, who chairs the parliamentary group, was
> appointed as Government Life Science Advisor by the Prime Minister
> and the Science Minister David Willetts in July 2011. Freeman
> chaired a meeting between the GM industry and ministers on 26th
> June 2012 to discuss a plan prepared by the ABC to promote GM crops
> in Britain (2,3).
>
> "It is clear that ministers have done a dodgy deal with the GM
> industry to promote GM crops in Britain and that lobbying in
> parliament is not led by the interests of constituents" said
> GeneWatch UK's Director, Dr Helen Wallace. "This is a bad deal for
> consumers and for farmers who will have to pay the extra costs of
> segregation to maintain more valuable non-GM supplies. In the USA,
> resistant superweeds and superpests are on the increase as a result
> of growing GM crops. Farmers are locked in to paying ever higher
> prices for patented GM seeds as companies withhold non-GM varieties".
>
> For further information contact:
>
> Dr Helen Wallace: 01298-24300 (office): 07903-311584 (mobile).
>
> Notes for Editors:
> (1) GM industry fund parliamentary group to promote return of GM
> crops to Britain. GeneWatch UK Press Release. 27th November 2012.
> http://www.genewatch.org/article.shtml?als[cid]=569457&als[itemid]
> =571543
> (2) Monsanto meets ministers to push return of GM crops to
> Britain. GeneWatch UK and GM Freeze Press Release. 25th October
> 2012. http://www.genewatch.org/article.shtml?als[cid]=569457&als
> [itemid]=571449
> (3) Going for Growth roundtable discussion, Tuesday 26th June
> 2012, BIS Conference Centre.
>
> Attendees on: http://tinyurl.com/9jbce4g . Agenda on: http://
> tinyurl.com/8ahylza . Summary on: http://tinyurl.com/92rrajn
> ---
> ---
> 2.Oxford Farming Conference - Response to Owen Paterson / Mark
> Lynas talks
> Soil Association, 3 January 2013
> http://www.soilassociation.org/news/newsstory/articleid/4780
>
> Speaking from the Oxford Farming Conference, Tom Macmillan,
> innovation director at the Soil Association, responded to comments
> by the author Mark Lynas and Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson.
>
> "Mark Lynas is right that improving productivity across
> agriculture, including in organic farming, has an important part to
> play in feeding the world sustainably. Through our Duchy Originals
> Future Farming programme, the Soil Association is investing in
> research and innovation to help farmers develop and share novel
> approaches to help improve productivity in environmentally
> responsible ways.
>
> "Lynas acknowledged that meeting this challenge globally is in
> large part about ensuring existing techniques are available to the
> poorest farmers in the world, and much also depends on directly
> tackling poverty and on rich countries adopting more sustainable
> consumption habits. Banging on about GM crops, as Lynas did today,
> is a red herring.
>
> "Farmers and the public have been promised the earth on GM yet the
> results to date have been poor. The UK Government's own farm scale
> experiment showed that overall the GM crops were worse for British
> wildlife. US Government figures show pesticide use has increased
> since GM crops have been grown there because superweeds and
> resistant insects have multiplied. Lynas, Paterson and other GM
> enthusiasts must beware of opening floodgates to real problems like
> this."
>
> Further comment
>
> A recent report by Professor Charles Benbrook showing that the use
> of increased levels of more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and
> insects in the US is due largely to heavy adoption of genetically
> modified crop technologies sparking a rise of 'superweeds' and hard-
> to-kill insects. This is one example of why GM crops don't offer a
> real solution. Not only have these GM technologies failed to
> deliver on their fundamental promises, they have made the problem
> they were designed to solve even worse and locked farmers further
> into depending on costly inputs from a handful of powerful chemical
> companies.
>
> Most of the British public do not want GM. The recent British
> Science Association survey cited by Owen Paterson shows that public
> concern over GM food has not lessened – it shows that attitudes
> have not changed significantly. The share saying they agree that GM
> food "should be encouraged" has actually dropped from 46% in 2002
> to 27% in 2012.
>
> The Government has kept people in the dark by opposing labeling of
> meat and milk from animals fed on GM. Owen Paterson can stop the
> public unwittingly eating this food by introducing clear labeling.
>
> The Soil Association supports practical innovation that addresses
> real needs, is genuinely sustainable and puts farmers in control of
> their livelihoods. Where GM crops have been planted they are doing
> the opposite, locking farmers into buying herbicides and costly
> seed, while breeding resistant weeds and insects. They are the
> product of a narrow, top-down approach to R&D driven less by the
> needs of farmers, consumers or the environment, than by seed and
> chemical companies. Just three corporations – Monsanto, Syngenta,
> and Bayer – are responsible for virtually all commercially released
> GM crops in the world. Meeting the challenge of providing better
> nutrition for more people sustainably calls for joined-up research
> that takes an ecological approach, responds to people's real needs
> and respects farmers' know-how.
>
> For press enquiries contact the Soil Association press office:
> Natasha Collins-Daniel, Press Office Manager – 0117 914 2448 /
> 07827 925380
> Ncollins-daniel at soilassociation.org
> ---
> ---
> 3.Ministers launch PR drive to shake off 'Frankenstein food' image
> of GM crops
> Matt Chorley
> Daily Mail, 3 January 2013 [shortened]
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256511/PR-drive-launched-
> shake-Frankenstein-food-image-GM-crops.html
>
> *Environment Secretary Owen Paterson says the government "must not
> be afraid" of pushing genetically modified food
> *In Oxford Farming Conference Speech he admits public still needs
> reassurance that GM is safe...
>
> A PR campaign to change the image of genetically modified food is
> to be launched by the government.
>
> Environment Secretary Owen Paterson wants farmers, scientists and
> ministers to increase the appeal of so-called Frankenstein Foods
> among the public.
>
> In a speech today to the Oxford Farming Conference, Mr Paterson
> insists there are "great opportunities" in pushing GM technology ,
> but admitted the public need reassurance that it is safe.
>
> Since last summer’s reshuffle, Mr Paterson has repeatedly backed
> GM’s role in keeping food supplies secure.
>
> He has dismissed complaints as "humbug" and claimed "there isn't a
> single piece of meat being served [in a typical London restaurant]
> where a bullock hasn't eaten some GM feed".
>
> GM crops were grown on 395 million acres in 29 countries in 2011,
> according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
>
> In today’s speech Mr Paterson said: "I fully appreciate the strong
> feelings on both sides of the debate. GM needs to be considered in
> its proper overall context with a balanced understanding of the
> risks and benefits.
>
> "We should not, however, be afraid of making the case to the public
> about the potential benefits of GM beyond the food chain, for
> example, significantly reducing the use of pesticides and inputs
> such as diesel.
>
> "As well as making the case at home, we also need to go through the
> rigorous processes that the EU has in place to ensure the safety of
> GM crops.
>
> "I believe that GM offers great opportunities but I also recognise
> that we owe a duty to the public to reassure them that it is a safe
> and beneficial innovation."
>
> He said the industry "has long been at the forefront of innovation"
> and this must continue, including backing GM.
>
> But opponents of an expansion in GM technology claimed just a
> quarter of people thought it could be "encouraged".
>
> Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, said:
> "Owen Patterson says that people are eating meat from animals fed
> of GM feed without realising it.
>
> "That is because the British Government has consistently opposed
> moves to label to give consumers accurate information, and he
> should put that right by immediately introducing compulsory
> labelling of meat and milk from animals fed on GM feed."
>
> Friends of the Earth's senior food and farming campaigner Clare
> Oxborrow said: "GM crops are not the solution to the food
> challenges we face.
>
> "They are largely being developed to benefit multinational biotech
> firms that are gaining control of the seed industry, not to feed
> poor people in developing countries."
> ---
> ---
> 4.Bad weather prompting more British farmers to consider GM use
> Fiona Harvey and Rebecca Smithers
> The Guardian, 4 January 2013
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/04/bad-weather-
> farmers-gm
>
> *Washout summer and flooded autumn have persuaded an increasing
> number of farmers to start using the technology
>
> The extreme weather of 2012 has turned British farmers on to
> genetically modified crops, with calls from farming leaders to
> start using the technology as a way to help combat the effects of
> climate change.
>
> England's wettest year on record, and the UK's second wettest,
> which had begun with one of the worst droughts for decades, has
> persuaded an increasing number of farmers that the development of
> crop varieties with engineered resistance to extreme weather
> conditions is now a priority. Farming groups are in favour of the
> move, and many individual farmers now want to explore the use of
> the controversial techniques, according to delegates at the Oxford
> Farming Conference.
>
> "If the UK sets itself outside the global market [in which many
> countries are pursuing GM crops] then we would become fossilised
> into an old-fashioned way of farming," Peter Kendall, president of
> the National Farmers' Union, told the Guardian. "The majority of
> our members are aware of the real risk of becoming globally
> uncompetitive because of avoiding using GM."
>
> Kendall pointed to the severe problems that potato and tomato
> growers have had with blight, as the wet weather has encouraged the
> spread of the disease. "If you could have something that was blight-
> resistant, that would be a huge improvement," he said. He argued it
> would be more environmentally friendly to use GM food and thus
> avoid the problem of losing large quantities of food to spoilage
> from such diseases.
>
> Many farmers at the conference backed his views. "When you look at
> the year farmers have just had, with the weather and diseases and
> pests [that have spread because of the soggy weather] it has
> increasingly got to be recognised that we need to look at this,"
> said Alastair Brooks, who farms 6,000 acres in Buckinghamshire.
>
> Andrew Brown, with 620 acres of mostly arable land in Rutland,
> said: "If global warming is going to go the way scientists tell us,
> this is only going to get more important."
>
> Adrian Ivory, who farms in Perthshire, said colder, wetter summers
> seemed to be becoming the norm, and these would require different
> varieties to cope with the adverse growing conditions – varieties
> that could take many years to cultivate by conventional means, but
> could be brought forward more quickly using GM technology.
>
> But they emphasised that any move towards GM would be slow, involve
> scientific assessment and would require public support. "This is
> not something anyone is rushing into. We recognise it would be in
> stages, by degrees, and we'd need to have scientific input at every
> stage," said Brown.
>
> Owen Paterson, secretary of state for the environment, gave a clear
> signal of the government's backing for further use of GM crops in
> his speech to the conference. He told delegates that the government
> would make the case in Europe for GM crops, as well as in the UK.
>
> But many environmental groups oppose the use of GM technology.
> Peter Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association, said that
> there was no evidence, after 20 years of research and development
> into GM crops, that they could be reliably produced to cope with
> drought or flood conditions. "Our weather is becoming more
> unpredictable and more extreme so farming needs crops with general
> resilience – you can't know when you plant whether the crop will
> face too much rain or severe drought," he said. "GM delivers
> specific, narrow traits. Organic and agro-ecological systems
> deliver generally more resilient farming."
>
> Clare Oxborrow, food campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said GM
> was unneeded and that more effort should go into other ways of
> making food production more sustainable. "We must switch to more
> sustainable diets globally, including reducing meat consumption in
> wealthy nations and an end to food crops being used for biofuels,"
> she said.
>
> It is also unclear whether major retailers will support any move to
> increase the use of GM crops. Some GM products can be found in
> imported foods, but UK supermarkets have banned the ingredients
> from their own-brand products. The European commission has a list
> of approved strains of ingredients such as corn, maize, soy and
> rice that are used as ingredients in processed foods, often as
> emulsifiers.
>
> But retailers and supermarkets said they did not envisage consumer
> enthusiasm increasing in the same way as farmers. Andrew Opie, food
> director of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Consumers drive
> the supply chain so unless there is a change in consumer demand
> there are no implications apart from ensuring there is sufficient
> supply of non-GM commodities around the world. If retailers did
> ever stock GM products they would need to be labelled, allowing
> shoppers to make a clear choice."
>
> A Morrisons spokesperson said: "We understand the difficulties this
> year's wet weather has caused British farmers and have worked
> closely with them to ensure customers can still buy British crops.
> As a retailer we are led by customer demand and stock the products
> shoppers want to buy."
>
> A spokesman for Waitrose said: "Our position is straightforward: we
> don't allow the use of any GM ingredients in our own-brand food and
> our customers aren't asking us to stock them."
>
> ................................................................
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