Groups rally against GM wheat collaboration

A few weeks after organisations in the US, Canada and Australia began a joint effort to support release of GM wheat in all three countries, opposition has emerged from other groups in those countries.

 

Fifteen groups, including Greenpeace, signed the opposing statement. In the US, the opposing groups include the National Family Farm Coalition, Western Organisation of Resource Councils, Centre for Food Safety and Organic Consumers Association.

 

The groups claimed consumers have rejected GM wheat globally, which led to Monsanto's 2004 withdrawal of requests to commercialise GM wheat.

 

The groups said wheat is one of the three major staple crops worldwide, with many wheat varieties adapted to the soil and climate conditions of certain regions of the world, and preserving the crop's diversity is crucial.

 

Currently, no bioengineered traits are in the pipeline for wheat promising basic agronomic improvements, the groups said, adding that the only bioengineered trait is tolerance to glyphosate. 

 

Therefore, GM technology contributes nothing to feeding the world and could even be a direct threat to global food security, the groups claimed.

 

The groups warned that GM technology is highly imprecise and the effects of GM crops on soil health, non-target insects and human health are inadequately studied.

 

Commercial GM crops have so far been limited to crops used primarily for feed, oil and fibre and thus have not been subjected to national labelling requirements in many countries, the groups said.

 

But GM wheat would be primarily used for human consumption and food products from GM crops are labelled accordingly in many countries, the groups said.

 

They continued by saying if GM wheat is released commercially, contamination would occur and markets would view all wheat as produced from these areas as GM unless proven otherwise.

 

The groups claimed that the main reason seed companies seek to introduce GM wheat is by means of gene patents to stop farmers from saving seeds.

 

"The introduction of patents into wheat breeding will destroy the collective heritage of plant breeding for wheat and erode the strong public breeding programmes for wheat in Canada, Australia and the US,'' the groups stated.