Hurdles litter the road to faster GMOtake-up
Hurdles litter the road to faster GMOtake-up
PUBLIC concerns and legal costs, as much as technical problems, are likely to dictate the rate at which genetically modified crops are introduced in Europe. That was the underlying message from a National Institute of Agricultural Botany international forum last week.
"The BSE episode has left us with a mountain to climb," said Greg Sage of Plant Breeding International. Escalating costs of complying with legal requirements of genetic engineering are fast becoming a major hurdle, he added.
"Breeders look long and hard at conventional methods before going the GMO route," said Dr Sage. The key to progress, he suggested, lies in balancing potential pros and cons of genetic modification. "But currently the advantages are difficult to prove and the risks easy to exaggerate."
One positive statistic, he said, is an estimate that if all the US soya crop was sown to Roundup Ready or glyphosate resistant varieties, overall herbicide use would drop by 5000t a year. "That must be a right step."
Prof Peter Richmond of United Biscuits said the benefits of the new technology are not getting through to consumers.
Industry must find more ways to draw attention to the advantages of genetic modification, according to Derek Burke, former chairman of the advisory committee on novel foods and processes.
Ethical issues have recently come to the fore, and new advisers will be needed to determine what is acceptable and under what conditions, he suggested.
"But the British public are sensible and pragmatic. Provided they think they are not being sold a pup, as with BSE, they will accept it."
Prof Burke said Monsantos sales strategy for genetically modified crops, which according to Dr Doug Parr of Greenpeace set a new inequitable standard for soya beans, had been "unhelpful" to both industry and consumers.
Countering Dr Page was Ricarda Steinbrecher of the Womens Environmental Network, a non-government organisation strongly opposed to genetic engineering. "The benefits are very easily exaggerated and the risks very hard to prove," she said.
Dr Steinbrechers main worry is the speed with which genetically modified crops were being thrust upon the public. The full implications of moving genes from one organism to another have yet to be determined, she explained. "There is so much left to learn."
As part of the SAFE Alliance, WEN is calling for a moratorium on the granting of rights to grow and market genetically modified crops until legitimate questions about their safety have been answered, and if need be, extra safeguards put in place.n
Radial progress. A French crop circle used by government researchers to assess the transfer of oilseed rape herbicide resistance genes into weeds like wild radish. To date it has been impossible to determine the limits of spread, according to Dr Anne-Marie Chévre of INRA. Courtesy: J Mesquida & M Renard – INRA.
• "The new technology is only just beginning." – Dr Greg Sage, PBI.
• "We are running faster than we can think." – Dr Ricarda Steinbrecher, WEN.
• Scope and procedures of EC GMO Directive should be clarified – Dr Firoz Amijee, Dept of the Environment, Transport & the Regions.
• "Genetic pollution" is longstanding – Prof Alan Gray, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.
FORUM FOCUSES
Prof Derek Burke said regulation is pointless if consumers wont buy genetically modified foods.