Irish Farmers Association Opposes Commercial Release of GM Crops

national | environment | press release Thursday April 29, 2004 17:51 by CmacO - GM Free Ireland Campaign - -

www.global-vision-consulting.com - NEWS RELEASE

European Chefs organisation backs proposal to keep Ireland GM-free
GM seeds threaten Ireland’s native agricultural biodiversity
Monsanto refuses cover for GM disasters
Call for GM ban on whole island of Ireland

Speaking at the GM-free Ireland workshop at the Convergence Festival in Dublin on Monday, IFA Deputy President Ruaidhri Deasy said “The IFA’s stance on GMOs is: Keep GM products out of Ireland. We don’t need them. We certainly can’t pay for them. And our customers don’t want them.”

Pointing out his role to protect and speak for the 85,000 farmers of Ireland, Mr. Deasy said “Ireland’s GM policy is a very important issue” and challenged all political parties to conserve Ireland’s GM-free status. Mr. Deasy said that he had seen multinationals corporations like Monsanto in operation in the developing world. “They don't care; they sit in their plush boardrooms but they don’t give a hoot. All they care for is profits. The last thing Monsanto did was to put in the Terminator gene which wipes out the plant's ability to reproduce. That enslaves farmers the world over.”

Another speaker, Ms. Pavitra Chalam described the spectacular failure of Monsanto’s GM Bt Cotton crop in India, which was supposed to be immune to the boll-worm and other pests. The crop failure caused a loss of €20m to Indian farmers, 250 of which then commited suicide, and created havock in the Indian economy, which is the world’s largest producer of cotton. She pointed out that despite an Indian law which holds seed companies liable for the failure of their seeds, Monsanto has refused to acknowledge the failure or provide any compensation. She went on to say “any farmer whose crops are contaminated by GM pollen will have to label his produce as GM contaminated. They can also be sued by Monsanto for theft of genes. So there can be no co-existence of GM and conventional crops. Genetic contamination robs farmers of their freedom to be GM-free. What will happen to Ireland when the first genetically modified crop is planted here?”

However Deasy said that he would not go so far as to ruling out research by Teagasc, of which is a director. “On the board of Teagasc we have built three new GM crop laboratories which are completely enclosed. But whatever happens I am convinced that the biggest problem with GMOs is that this technology has been in the wrong hands. Monsanto seems to be Hell-bent on stuffing this GMO technology down our throats. With the royalties and the frightening GM contracts that Monsanto are putting out, the farmer has nowhere to turn: he has to pay the attorney fees, he has to pay everything, and he’s put in a very precarious position. The argument stands up on its own. The majority of the people don’t want GMOs.”

Deasy’s remarks were backed by Euro-Toques Ireland / The European Commission of Chefs, whose spokesperson Evan Doyle (Co-owner of the Brook Lodge hotel in Co. Wicklow) came out strongly against the possible introduction of GM food and crops in Ireland by calling for the government to (1) declare Ireland a GM-free zone, (2) prohibit the use of GM ingredients in animal feed and (3) start negotiations with the UK government to keep the whole island of Ireland GM-free. Euro-Toques, whose members include top chefs from throughout Ireland and Europe, aims to protect the quality, diversity and flavour of our food and to promote indigenous and traditional production methods. Genetic manipulation of food is seen as totally at odds with these aims.

Commissioner-General of Euro-Toques Ireland Mr. Ross Lewis said that “Euro-Toques has seen an overwhelming concern growing amongst its members and their customers over the past few years about the future of our food and it is felt that GM poses a very serious threat in this regard. Not only are there the obvious risks related to the uncertainty surrounding the effects of GMOs on human and animal health and on the eco-system, GM products also pose a serious threat to the diversity of our food”.

“GM technology is very new and its consequences are unknown. Our main concern in relation to the question of introducing GM crops is one of choice; cross-contamination with organic and conventional crops will inevitably occur which means consumers will have no choice about eating GM foods. In our experience people are increasingly looking for traditionally and naturally produced foods, they simply don’t want GM products. Euro-Toques is calling on the Irish Government to listen to consumers and to declare Ireland a GM Free zone. Throughout the world Ireland is still viewed as clean and green, and people visit Ireland and buy Irish products with this in mind. Now is the time to stand up and demand that Ireland be GM Free. Once the first crops are sown, there is no turning back the clock and it will be too late to save our natural food industry.”

Speaking at the workshop on behalf of the Irish Seed Savers Association (which works to conserve the biodiversity of native Irish agricultural crops), Ms. Bridget Carlin said that 75% of world agricultural biodiversity had been lost in the 20th century and that 97% of vegetable varieties available to UK farmers have been lost since the 1950s, because small local seed companies have been taken over by large agro-chemical companies intent on crop monoculture. She said this is very dangerous because many of these seeds may well carry valuable traits for disease and pest resistance. Monoculture crops, on the other hand, can be totally wiped out by diseases such as the potato blight which led to famine in Ireland. Ms. Carlin challenged the Government for “frantically promoting GM crops in Ireland and throughout Europe.” “How are they going to ensure that our native agricultural and wild biodiversity is protected from GM contamination?” Ms. Carlin described the GM contamination of maize in Mexico, which is the global homeland of maize biodiversity. “ They talk about 6km buffer zones for co-existence of GM and conventional crops, but they found contaminated maize over 60km from where GM crops were grown in Mexico.” Pointing out that the insurance industry refuses cover for GM disasters and that biotech companies will also not provide liability, she said ” The biotech companies will not put their money where their mouth is.”

She went on to quote the American scientist Dr. Barry Commoner: “What the public fears is not the experimental science, but the fundamentally irrational decision to let GMOs out of the laboratory and into the real world, before we truly understand the consequences.”


ENDS

Attribution: Michael O’Callaghan


Co-ordinator, GM-free Ireland campaign – www.gmfreeireland.org
Chairman, Forging a GM Policy for Ireland conference – www.global-vision-consulting.com
Chairman, Global Vision Consulting Ltd.

tel (0404) 43 885
mobile: 087 799 4761


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