21 October 2002
RAZOR WIRE AND GE SEEDS
***
European Seed Industry meets behind high security to push acceptance of genetic contamination in EU agriculture
Brussels 21st Oct 2002 - In Brussels today a high security cordon has been thrown around the Crowne Plaza hotel where the European Seed Association (ESA) is meeting behind closed doors to discuss contamination of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in seeds. (1)
High on the agenda of the ESA Annual Meeting is a strategy to allow genetic contamination of European agriculture by introducing legal tolerance thresholds for unlabelled GMOs in conventional seeds. The association, dominated by the big genetic engineering (GE) companies Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer (former Aventis) has been lobbying for these tolerance thresholds to be included in a new EU Commission Directive (2). This Directive is to be approved in the coming months under the so-called Ścomitology‚ procedure, with no involvement of either the EU Environment ministers or the European Parliament
If the Directive is approved as proposed by the Commission (3) all European fields of maize and rape (amounting to over 10% of EU arable land) could next year be legally contaminated by up to 7000 million unidentified GMO plants to be released across Europe which would be unmonitored and impossible to recall.
The proposed European Seed Directive, will be discussed as the main item in the ESA general assembly at 5.30pm today. It has drawn opposition from a coalition of over 300 farmer, environmental and consumer groups across Europe representing over 25 million individuals. Last week a petition signed by that many groups and over 70,000 individuals was handed to European Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne (4). Amongst the signers are also a dozen seed producers.
Among member states that are concerned by the proposal are Italy, Austria and Luxembourg. Austria has for a year been successfully operating a law that outlaws the contamination of conventional seeds with GE varieties above the level of detection (5). Pioneer, the largest seed company in the world has confirmed that it can supply non-GE seed to the Austrian market without contamination (6).
For more information: Lorenzo Consoli, EU Advisor for Greenpeace
International, Tel: +(32)2.274.19.06; Mob:
+(32) 496
12 21 12;
Photographs available from Greenpeace Photo Desk, John Novis,
Mob:
+31653819121
Notes to the editors:
(1) One hundred and thirteen police, razor wire fences and 10 armoured riot vans are all in place to prevent public access to this prestigious hotel. The Botanic Garden has also been closed.
(2) In a position paper on the EU's draft Seed Directive ESA writes that it "is convinced that thresholds need to be set at least at 1% and at even higher levels for some crops (e.g. oilseed rape) according to their biology."
(3) ESA also demands these thresholds to be extended to GMOs not
approved within the European Community. This would clearly render
any present food and feed labelling legislation worthless and provide
for a complete and fast contamination of all European Seeds with
GMOs.
http://www.zs-l.de/gmo/downloads/esa_submission.pdf
(4) The European Commission services (DG SANCO) have proposed 3 different thresholds for contamination in seeds according to different types of plant: 0.3% for oilseed rape, 0.5% for cotton, maize, tomatoes, potatoes and beet and 0.7% for soya.
(5) See { HYPERLINK "http://www.saveourseeds.org"
}www.saveourseeds.org
(6) See Greenpeace briefing „No Genetically contaminated seeds: Austrian regulations lead EU way to pure seeds‰.
(7) Letter from Pioneer Austria to the Government of the federal county Voralberg 1 March 2002 ¯ available from http://www.zs- l.de/gmo/downloads/pioneer.pdf
Greenpeace briefing "Save our Seeds - Agriculture and Environment
threatened by GE Seed contamination law" available on
http://ge.greenpeace.org
***
Article for Greenpeace Website:
Seed Plot: Behind barbed wire the seed industry is planning GE contamination.
Sometimes Greenpeace uncovers the bad guys.. sometimes they uncover themselves. This rainy monday morning a Greenpeace supporter in Brussels tipped us off that the European Seed Industry was meeting to discuss genetically engineered seed - not that it was difficult to tell! When we arrived to check we discovered an entire Brussels street had been cordoned off with razor wire. Armoured vans and over 110 police surrounded the Crowne Plaza Hotel with the sort of protection usually afforded to ministers and heads of states. So what exactly was going on inside?
"Its a meeting about the transgenic seeds" explained a friendly policeman handing out belgian waffles to his troops manning the barbed wire "They are worried that Greenpeace will find out."
There was a time when the seed industry was about providing farmers and gardeners with the seeds they needed to grow the food people wanted. Today's seed industry however is another arm of the genetic engineering industry and is made to dance to their tune. The world's largest seed companies are now either owned by GE companies (such as Du Pont's Pioneer Seeds) or are themselves GE companies such as Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta. First they tried to mix GE ingredients with the food unlabelled. Then they tried unsuccesfully to convince farmers and consumers to support GE crops. Now they are onto plan C: Contamination.
Plan C: Contamination.
"The real strategy is to introduce so much genetic pollution that meeting the consumer demand for GM- free food is seen as not possible. The idea, quite simply, is to pollute faster than countries can legislate - then change the laws to fit the contamination". When Choice Becomes Just A Memory -Naomi Klein The Guardian, January 21, 2001
For two years the European Seed Association has been at the forefront of lobbying for a new European Seed Contamination Directive. That regulation was due to be finalised next month. it would allow an initial release of up to 7000 million unregulated and unmonitored GE plants across Europe by contaminating ordinary planting seed that all farmers buy. It could affect the 10 percent of EU arable land currently planted to maize and oilseed rape and introduce an unprecedented amount of GE contamination into the food chain. Greenpeace and others have warned that it would add extra costs to farmers and could destroy the viability of the European organic industry which must stay GE-free.
In one respect the barbed wire was no surprise. The proposed seed contamination Directive has so far been characterised by closed doors and secrecy. In an unusual move, both the European Parliament and Council of EU Environment ministers are being excluded from the decisionmaking process on this controversial measure. Instead an unelected technical committee, the Standing Committee on Seeds, are being asked to give the final go ahead for what may be the biggest single release of GE crops Europe has ever seen. The only other body who will have any say is the World Trade Organisation. It feels like a stitch-up from start to finish.
Perhaps though the seed industry has good reason to be worried. In the past few weeks thousands of Greenpeace cyberactivists have been emailing European ministers to alert them to the real cost of the GE seed contamination directive. Last week Greenpeace and others presented an online petition signed by over 70,000 individuals and 300 farmer, environmental and consumer groups representing over 25 million members. Franz Fischler the minister for Agriculture who received the petition seemed surprised and concerned by the scope of impact of legalising seed contamination.
Down in central Brussels. Police are still standing in the rain and waiting in riot vans. They have even closed down the botanic garden, a little green haven of biodiversity, so that the genetically engineered seed industry can safely plan the destruction of our agricultural diversity away from public view. An undercover detective stops me and searches my bags, expecting Greenpeace climbers and thousands of activists to arrive momentarily on the street. I smile as I think of the thousands of cyberactivists sending their concerns direct to EU ministers. There are ways to even get past razor wire.
If you live in Europe please join the cyberaction on GE seeds and sent letters to your national Agriculture minister asking them not to accept GE contamination in our seeds : go to http://act.greenpeace.org