Status report on sugar cane agrochemicals ... - Sucre Ethique

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GMOs: friend or foe?
E� orts to develop transgenic sugarcane are underway in a number of countries (e.g. Australia,
Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Africa, USA, and Venezuela)
(http://www.bettersugarcane.org/assetsgeneral/istransgenicsugarcaneabmp.pdf). One
of the main aims of such e� orts is the development of herbicide-resistant cane varieties. However,
this raises particularly tricky questions concerning agrochemical use. Herbicide resistant soy varieties
have been cultivated for some time already, and the development of herbicide-resistant
sugarcane is underway. For instance in Brazil, genetic improvement of sugarcane varieties has
been widely applied for some time already, and continues to be one of the main means to improve
pest and herbicide resistance and thereby allow further reduction of agrochemicals (Veiga Filho
2008, 7). These e� orts have included the Cane Genome project, completed in 2003, involved the
sequencing of 40 000 cane genes related to disease resistance, stress response, nutrient metabolism,
etc. The Sucarcane Technology Centre (CTC) has also developed transgenic cane varieties.
(Smeets et al. 2008, 789) CanaVialis, the world’s largest private sector sugar cane breeding company,
and a biotechnology company Allelyx entered in a partnership with Monsanto to develop
genetically modi� ed cane varieties resistant to glyphosate. Monsanto bought the two companies
at the end of 2008, and became hence the world’s largest sugarcane breeding company. It already
has regulatory approval for exporting its glyphosate resistant (Roundup Ready) sugar beet to the
EU and Japan, and similar regulatory approvals are possible for ‘Roundup Ready’ sugarcane. (Seedling
2009)
However, the public opinion in Brazil remains divided on the issue of GMOs. The development of
herbicide resistant cane varieties is feared to increase the domination of sugarcane sector by large,
vertically integrated conglomerates, thereby excluding small, independent farmers. A concern
more speci� cally related to the theme of this paper is that herbicide-resistant sugarcane grown in
large plantations may incite farmers to overuse herbicides, as seems to have happened with the
introduction of herbicide-resistant soy varieties (Joensen 2007).
Finally, the high amounts of herbicide applied may lead to the development of herbicide-resistant
weeds. Such weeds have not yet been found in sugarcane cultivation, but the rapid increase of
herbicide resistance in crops such as soybeans, cotton and corn suggests that this situation may
change (FoE & CFS 2008; Smeets et al. 2008, 785; Center for Food Safety 2008). The industry’s
suggestion to combating herbicide-resistant weeds – to genetically engineer a new generation of
plants to resist even more toxic and persistent weed killers such as 2,4-D and dicamba (Robinson,
E. 2008) – might lead to a never-ending ‘arms race’ between cane breeders who develop evermore
herbicide-resistant varieties, and the weeds that respond by developing their own herbicide
resistance.
<strong>Status</strong> <strong>report</strong> on sugar cane
agrochemicals management
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ETHICAL-SUGAR