ISP Press Release 27/05/04

Independent Science Panel (ISP)

ISP to FAO: GM Crops Not the Answer

The FAO recently released its annual publication, The State of Food and Agriculture 2003-2004. This year, the theme was on "Agricultural Biotechnology: Meeting the needs of the poor?" The report touches on the full range of agricultural biotechnology tools and applications, but focuses largely on transgenic or GM crops and their impact on poor people in poor countries.

While acknowledging that biotechnology is not a panacea, the FAO maintains that it holds great promise as a new scientific tool for generating applied agricultural technologies. The report claims that biotechnology is capable of benefiting small, resource-poor farmers, yet also cautions, "Given that technologies that are on the shelf today (generated by conventional research methods) have not yet reached the poorest farmers´ fields, there is no guarantee that the new biotechnologies will fare any better."

Thus, the FAO seems to ignore the implicit message of its own study: GM crops have thus far delivered negligible benefits to the world´s poor. And there is little indication that these trends will change in favour of the poor. As the report points out, crops and agronomic traits of importance to developing countries and marginal production areas have been ignored.

Instead, the focus has been on four crops (soybean, maize, cotton, canola) more suited for industrial agriculture and unlikely to meet the food security needs of poor farmers, and two traits (herbicide tolerance and insect resistance) of limited relevance; herbicide resistance, in particular, is less relevant for developing countries where farm labour is abundant.

These four crops and two traits have, however, been the mainstay of the GM industry, controlled largely by transnational corporations that have reaped most of the benefits. This private sector-led investment in agricultural research and development depends on strong protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) over GM crops.

The FAO is disingenuous when it calls on countries to develop stronger IPR regimes to promote GM crop research, even as the independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights has expressed reservations over patent protection for plants and animals. Many developing countries that are World Trade Organisation (WTO) members, particularly the Africa Group, have also expressed similar concerns, joining countless non-governmental and civil society organisations, and some 700 scientists (including ISP members), to call for no patents on living organisms.

Is the FAO ignoring these views, much as it seems to be selective in the evidence it draws on to justify the report´s conclusions? For example, in the section on public attitudes, the report relies heavily on a survey that asks imbalanced questions. This section concludes that people in developing countries are generally likely to support agricultural biotechnology, which is not surprising, given that the risks are not mentioned in the questions asked, only the potential benefits.

Yet the risks of GM crops are increasingly apparent. The FAO report is unacceptably silent on the transgenic contamination of traditional varieties of maize in Mexico, a centre of origin and diversity of maize; it doesn´t discuss biodiversity and food security impacts, let alone the immense implications on cultural and indigenous practices.

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, director of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) and member of the ISP, points to further flaws: "The FAO claims that scientists generally agree that current transgenic crops and the foods derived from them are safe to eat. But there are many scientists - ISP members included - who have questioned this premise, and there is increasing evidence that casts doubt on GM food safety."

The ISP´s report, The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World, is an extensive review of the scientific and other evidence on the problems and hazards of GM crops and the manifold benefits of all forms of sustainable agriculture (see Executive Summary, appended).

It is clear, from the evidence therein, that there are many unanswered questions on the safety of GM crops. Very few studies have been conducted, particularly as to the effects of GM foods on human health. There is a dearth of published scientific papers on which a reliable database of safety can be established, and the few independent studies that have been carried out raise serious concerns. There is also increasing indication of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of GM crops, particularly on smallholder farmers.

The ISP has called for a global ban on environmental release of GM crops, to make way for agroecology, organic farming and other forms of sustainable agriculture. There is growing evidence that many smallholder farmers in developing countries already have the knowledge, experience and innovative spirit that enable them to farm sustainably and productively, without depending on GM crops. These traditional farming practices best address agriculture that is complex, diverse and risk-prone; GM crops would create many more risks for these farmers. The FAO should be calling for more research into these sustainable practices, so as to better them and make them equitably accessible, rather than into GM crops.

If the world is to seriously address hunger, this means rethinking agriculture and associated policy making, and exploring how traditional knowledge and science can work together, while learning from farmers themselves. World hunger today is more a consequence of economic and political forces that hamper distribution, and less one of inadequate food supply. These, and other issues including access to land, water, credit and markets, the loss of agricultural biodiversity and the inequities in multilateral policies that affect agriculture and rural development, must be addressed.

The FAO would do better to focus on these issues, rather than on GM crops, if it is really serious in "helping build a world without hunger".

Written by Lim Li Ching for the ISP