Fianna Fáil Decision on GM food is dangerous and foolhardy

The decision by the outgoing Fianna Fáil government to reverse Ireland's policy on genetically modified (GM)...

The decision by the outgoing Fianna Fáil government to reverse Ireland's policy on genetically modified (GM) food has been described as both dangerous and foolhardy by a leading Irish NGO. Speaking on behalf of Afri, Clare O’Grady Walshe, who has lectured on food politics and was a member of the Green Energy Task Force in 2009, described the government decision to no longer abstain in EU debates on GM food as having enormous implications for Irish people and the environment.

Ms. O’Grady Walshe, who is also a board member of the Irish Seed Savers Association, claimed that Ireland could take the lead in promoting GM-free agriculture, which would provide EU consumers with the food they want. She argues that such an approach, steeped in Irish culture and Irish uniqueness as a ‘green’ island on the edge of Europe, would be the best way of defending a sector that is worth €16.6 billion to our economy, 8% of GDP, and employs 150,000 people supporting some 128,000 family farms.

“At a time when the Irish food sector is enjoying success in difficult economic times, and when EU citizens continue to vote overwhelmingly for GM-free foods, this decision by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith sets Ireland on a road towards increased collaboration with controversial technologies, whose main proponents are some of the worst polluting multinationals on the planet”, said Ms O’Grady Walshe.

Afri locates the decision in the context of the huge issues facing agriculture on a planet running out of oil and experiencing the ravages of climatic change. They point to expert reports, most notably the recent Review of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which notes that “the most effective strategy to adapt agriculture to climate change is by growing diverse crops and increasing genetic diversity of the crop varieties we grow”. The IAASTD report specifically states that “questionable technological fixes such as transgenic crops/GM should be avoided”.

It is reported that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour agree on this policy of relaxing laws and allowing GM varieties to enter our food chain. Ms O’Grady Walshe describes the issue as fundamentally about democracy and transparency. “The GM lobby is the Anglo-Irish Bank of the agriculture and food sector and the people who are shouting stop in this area can be derided in the same way as those who called it correctly on the banking crisis; but this is much more important than money – because you can’t eat money – it’s about the food we eat and feed our children, which links us to people everywhere and to the earth we are so mindlessly destroying”, she concluded.