GM FOODS

(Click on title for Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) link)

The controversy over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) was re-ignited recently with the news that field trials might begin soon. BASF, the world's largest chemical and biotechnology company, have submitted an application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for permission to conduct open-air experimental field trials of genetically modified potatoes in Co Meath. BASF says the potatoes may provide greater resistance to late potato blight. The memory of the Great Famine of the 1840s still resonates in most people’s consciousness and potato blight is an emotive issue, so it is no surprise that the biotech industry have allegedly chosen a potentially blight-resistant potato as a strategic spearhead to introduce GMO crops into Ireland. Green Party leader Trevor Sargent claimed the Irish potato industry would be damaged at news that GM crops were being grown. Submissions objecting to the trials included farmers, organic farmers' groups, local residents, the Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) and GM-Free Ireland. The Irish Wildlife Trust said it was the EPA's responsibility to examine the “growing body of damning evidence” on GM crops. The EPA will review the submissions before a decision near the end of April.Most GMO crops are intended to be immune to weedkillers or to produce their own pesticides. But many do not perform as expected, and end up requiring more chemicals, which in turn produce “superweeds”. The GMO potatos would have to carry a GM label, and there is no market for GM foods in Europe. The 30 largest food brands and 30 largest retailers have a GM-free policy. Moreover, the majority of EU governments, and many local authorities prohibit the cultivation of GM crops. The most extraordinary thing about GMO crops is that they are patented. Under the WTO's trade-related intellectual property rights agreement, farmers whose crops have been contaminated - often by wind-borne pollen or seed dispersal from a neighbour's farm - no longer own their crops. One large multinational is currently pursuing 9,000 farmers for patent infringement in the USA and Canada. The Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmer’s Association is one of 80 farm and food organisations that are opposed to the proposed trials on the basis they would destroy this country's economically valuable clean green marketing image as “Ireland - The Food Island”. More blight-resistant potatoes are a desirable trait. But natural blight-resistant varieties are already available to Irish farmers, and non-GMO breeding techniques provide the only safe way to increase resistance. Thousands of contamination incidents around the world show that GMO crops cannot possibly “co-exist” with conventional and organic farming. We've come to a fork in the road, and the time has come to choose what kind of farming future is best for Ireland.

Environmental.