Posted on 3-2-2004

Developing World Adopting GM Crops

Seven million farmers in 18 countries -- more than 85% of whom are
resource-poor and from the developing world -- now plant GM crops, says a
survey by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications


Farmers in developing countries are switching to genetically modified (GM)
crops at more than twice the rate of farmers in the industrialised world,
a new global survey has found.

Last year, the amount of land planted with GM crops in developing
countries grew by 4.4 million hectares, or 28%. By comparison, the rate of
growth in industrialised countries was only 11%. As a result, almost
one-third of the worldýs GM crops are now grown in developing countries,
compared to one-quarter in 2002.

This data comes courtesy a survey that was released recently by the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA), an organisation that supports the transfer of biotechnology to
developing countries.

The survey also finds that seven million farmers in 18 countries -- more
than 85% of whom are resource-poor farmers in the developing world -- now
plant GM crops.

ýFarmers have made up their minds,ý says Clive James, chairman and founder
of the ISAAA. ýThey continue to rapidly adopt biotech crops because of
significant agronomic, economic, environmental and social advantages.ý

But Alex Wijeratna, a food campaigner for the development organisation
ActionAid, argues that the uptake of GM crops in the developing world
could have more to do with aggressive marketing by influential seed
companies than with any benefits that the crops might offer. ýIn Africa,
the formal seed sector is dominated by three companies,ý he says. ýWe are
increasingly worried about the concentration of the market.ý

According to the ISAAA survey, six countries together grow 99% of the
worldýs GM crops, up from four in 2002. Brazil and South Africa joined the
United States, Argentina, Canada and China as the leading growers of GM
crops.

China and South Africa experienced the largest increases in 2003, each
expanding the area planted with GM crops by a third.

Soya is the most commonly planted GM crop -- 55% of the worldýs soya crop,
covering 41.4 million hectares, is now genetically modified, according to
the ISAAA. GM maize was planted on 15.5 million hectares worldwide in
2003, an increase of a quarter over the previous year; GM cotton was grown
on 7.2 million hectares; and GM canola occupied 3.6 million hectares.

The ISAAA predicts that within the next five years, 10 million farmers in
25 or more countries will plant 100 million hectares of GM crops.

According to the report, the global market value of GM crops is expected
to increase from US$4.5 billion this year to US$5 billion or more by 2005.

Source: www.scidev.net, January 16, 2004


Indiaýs GM food safeguards inadequate: Gene Campaign

In the absence of a competent and vigilant regulatory system, permission
granted to GM products could pose a threat to Indiaýs environment and
public health, the Delhi-based NGO has noted in its petition to Supreme
Court of India


A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking
changes to Indiaýs rules on genetically modified (GM) products, to make
them more efficient and transparent

Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based non-governmental body involved in food
security and bio-resource issues, has sought a moratorium on the
commercial release of GM products until technically competent and
transparent regulations are in place. In the absence of a competent and
vigilant regulatory system, permission granted to GM products could pose a
threat to Indiaýs environment and public health, the group says.

ýOur biggest concern is the lack of technical competence and the shocking
absence of transparency,ý says Dr Suman Sahai, president of Gene Campaign.
Sahai explains that Gene Campaign filed the petition only after repeated
attempts to discuss its concerns about flaws in the existing rules with
various government departments were stonewalled. ýWe spent 18 months
seeking data about field trials and safety tests,ý says Sahai. ýThere is
no reason why such data should remain hidden, but they donýt even
respond.ý

The need for revised regulations to govern GM products in India emerged at
a national symposium in New Delhi last year.

According to the department of biotechnology (DBT), existing rules in
Indiaýs Environment Protection Act were adequate to cover GM products. A
senior department official has said that guidelines to assess the
environmental and ecological impact for risk assessment were already built
into the act and that ýthey are no less stringent than anywhere in the
worldý.

Sahai expresses surprise over the apparent unwillingness of departments to
share information with even the Indian parliament.

The symposium had suggested that a review of decisions by the Genetic
Engineering Advisory Committee (GEAC), the panel responsible for approving
GM products in India, be presented to parliament. However, a DBT official
said: ýSubmission of GEAC decisions to parliament is not a practical
exercise.ý Sahai responds: ýWhose agenda is being set here that the DBT
thinks that even the Indian parliament need not be informed about GEAC
decisions.ý

Dr Satish Raina, professor at the National Centre for Plant Biotechnology
at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, says there is no
reason why details about safety and environmental tests should not be
released. ýThere is nothing proprietary or secret about how the tests were
conducted and what results were obtained -- the public has a right to
know.ý

Although the committee has so far approved only GM cotton, several edible
GM products are in the research pipeline. Protein-rich potatoes,
iron-laced rice and, perhaps, edible vaccines too -- all products of
genetic engineering -- are expected to come up for approval by the panel
within the next two to five years.