GMO Myths and Truths

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intercropping on rhizosphere soil microbes and nutrient contents]. Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue Bao. Jul 2009; 20(7): 1597-1602. 31. Oquist KA, Strock JS, Mulla DJ. Influence of alternative and conventional farming practices on subsurface drainage and water quality. J Environ Qual. Jul-Aug 2007; 36(4): 1194-1204. 32. Driver A. CropWorld Global 2011: Changing our global approach to farming. Farmers Guardian. 1 September 2011. http:// bit.ly/LXmk2s 33. Pimentel D, Pimentel M. Food, Energy and Society. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado; 1996. 34. Pimentel D, Doughty R, Carothers C, Lamberson S, Bora N, Lee K. Energy and economic inputs in crop production: Comparison of developed, developing countries. In: Lal L, Hansen D, Uphoff N, Slack S, eds. Food Security and Environmental Quality in the Developing World. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2002:129–151. 35. Taverne D. The real GM food scandal. Prospect Magazine. 25 November 2007. http://bit.ly/JZvDz2 36. Brookes G, Barfoot P. Global impact of biotech crops: Socioeconomic and environmental effects in the first ten years of commercial use. AgBioForum. 2006; 9(3): 139–151. 37. Bindraban PS, Franke AC, Ferrar DO, et al. GM-related sustainability: Agro-ecological impacts, risks and opportunities of soy production in Argentina and Brazil. Wageningen, the Netherlands. Plant Research International. 2009. http://bit.ly/ Ink59c 38. Pimentel D, Hepperly P, Hanson J, Douds D, Seidel R. Environmental, energetic, and economic comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems. Bioscience. 2005; 55: 573–582. 39. Edwards S, Asmelash A, Araya H, Egziabher TBG. Impact of Compost Use on Crop Yields in Tigray, Ethiopia. Rome, Italy. Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. December 2007. 40. International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). Global status of commercialized biotech/ GM crops: 2010. ISAAA Brief 42-2010: Executive Summary. 2010. http://bit.ly/Li1eic GMO Myths and Truths 106
7.1 Myth: GM crops are needed to feed the world’s growing population Truth: GM crops are irrelevant to feeding the world “We strongly object that the image of the poor and hungry from our countries is being used by giant multinational corporations to push a technology that is neither safe, environmentally friendly nor economically beneficial to us. We do not believe that such companies or gene technologies will help our farmers to produce the food that is needed in the 21st century. On the contrary, we think it will destroy the diversity, the local knowledge and the sustainable agricultural systems that our farmers have developed for millennia, and that it will thus undermine our capacity to feed ourselves.” – Statement signed by 24 delegates from 18 African countries to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, 1998 “If anyone tells you that GM is going to feed the world, tell them that it is not… To feed the world takes political and financial will.” – Steve Smith, head of GM company Novartis Seeds UK (now Syngenta), public meeting on proposed local GM farm scale trial, Tittleshall, Norfolk, UK, 29 March 2000 GM crops are promoted as a way of solving world hunger at a time when the population is expected to increase. But it is difficult to see how GM can contribute to solving world hunger when there are no GM crops available that increase intrinsic yield (see Section 5). Nor are there any GM crops that are better than non-GM crops at tolerating poor soils or challenging climate conditions. Instead, most currently available GM crops are 7. FEEDING THE WORLD Section at a glance u GM crops are promoted as necessary to feed the world’s growing population. But it seems unlikely that they could make a significant contribution as they do not deliver higher yields or produce more with less inputs than non-GM crops. u Most GM crops are engineered to tolerate herbicides or to express a pesticide – properties that are irrelevant to solving hunger. u Hunger is not caused by a lack of food in the world. It is a problem of distribution and poverty, which GM cannot solve. u The IAASTD report, authored by over 400 international experts, concluded that the key to food security lay in agroecological farming methods. The report did not endorse GM, noting that yields were “variable” and that better solutions were available. u Agroecological farming has resulted in significant yield and income benefits to farmers in the Global South, while preserving soil for future generations. u GM is not needed to feed the world. Conventional plant breeding has already delivered crops that are high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistant, tolerant of drought and other climatic extremes, and nutritionally enhanced – at a fraction of the cost of GM. engineered for herbicide tolerance or to contain a pesticide, or both. The two major GM crops, soy and maize, mostly go into animal feed, biofuels to power cars, and processed human food – products for developed nations that have nothing to do with meeting the basic food needs of the poor and hungry. GM corporations are answerable to their shareholders and thus are interested in profitable commodity markets, not in feeding the poor and hungry. Even if a GM crop did appear that gave higher yields than non-GM crops, this would not impact GMO Myths and Truths 107
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GMO Myths and Truths An evidence-ba
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About the authors Michael Antoniou,
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3.1.5. Regulators currently do not
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Truth: Co-existence means widesprea
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1. THE GENETIC ENGINEERING TECHNIQU
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1.2 Myth: Genetic engineering is pr
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ornamental plants. 9 It also includ
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successfully incorporate the GM gen
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“conventionally bred” varieties
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inspection. Their scrutiny cannot e
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Conclusion to Section 1 GM proponen
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2. SCIENCE AND REGULATION 2.1 Myth:
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of a protein (prion), a difference
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data on GMOs available on the Inter
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2.1.8. GM corporations and the US g
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the defamation and intimidation cam
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lacked proper controls. Both claims
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18. Pusztai A, Bardocz S, Ewen SWB.
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3. HEALTH HAZARDS OF GM FOODS 3.1 M
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their lambs showed cellular changes
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well known to have different effect
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developing multi-trait crops becaus
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3.2.2. Schrøder (2007) 23 A study
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3.4 Myth: GM foods have been proven
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However, the authors of a 1990 stud
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3.6 Myth: GM Bt insecticidal crops
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3.7 Myth: GM foods are properly tes
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