June 7, 2011
from ASPTA Website

 

 

On May 17th a public hearing was held in Brasilia to discuss an application for commercial release of the first genetically modified bean variety.

 

Beans are part of Brazil’s staple diet, consumed daily by most of the population. The new variety was developed by Embrapa (the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) for resistance to the golden mosaic virus and is already just waiting for commercial authorization from CTNBio (National Biosafety Technical Commission, the official body responsible for evaluating and authorizing GM crops).

The hearing was held at the head offices of Embrapa itself, the state company making the application.

 

This unprecedented event raised the prospect of CTNBio adopting the procedure of ‘consulting society’ at the premises of all applicant companies, with, who knows, the next hearing being held at Monsanto’s head office.

 

The president of CTNBio, Edilson Paiva, claimed they had been unable to find another auditorium available in Brasilia, hence the choice. The representative for the NGO Terra de Direitos questioned the confidentiality granted to various sections of Embrapa’s report.

 

CTNBio withheld more information than the areas requested by the company, a fact likely to hinder monitoring of the product’s impacts after its commercial release. In this case access to all the data was denied even to the member of the Commission responsible for reporting on the evaluation process.

Field studies were undertaken in just three localities over a two-year period. Interpreted generously this mean that the environmental impacts of the technology were tested in two biomes at most. Brazil’s legislation requires studies to be undertaken in all biomes where the modified plant might be grown.

 

As the Terra de Direitos representative pointed out, Embrapa is applying for unrestricted release of the new GM bean variety throughout the country, despite the lack of adequate data.

AS-PTA’s representative also questioned the absence of data on the potential impacts of genetic modification on the common bean varieties already consumed in Brazil. All the tests were carried out on a single type of bean, rather than those consumed in the country on a daily basis. At the same time, various parts of Embrapa’s report themselves state that the test results vary according to the type of bean receiving the transgene.

 

Despite these tests not being conducted, the application is for release of the GM variety for subsequent incorporation into other bean plants.

Even more revealingly, only two of the 22 transgenic events generated for resistance to the mosaic virus actually worked. As the evaluation report states, it remains unknown why these produced the expected results while the other 20 events did not. Indeed the report concludes that more studies are needed to understand the transgene in question.

 

In other words, when in doubt, release it.

 

This abandonment of the Precautionary Principle was highlighted at the hearing by AS-PTA.

The representative from CONSEA (the National Nutritional and Food Security Council) stressed that the human right to healthy and adequate food will be achieved through agroecology, not through the development of GM seeds.

 

He cited experiments run by Embrapa over an eight-year period that showed considerable success in controlling the bean plant mosaic virus through organic farming methods and without any loss of productivity.
 

 


CTNBio approves changes to rules to speed up commercial releases

The day after the public hearing on the GM bean application, the monthly meeting of CTNBio also began in Brasilia.

 

Opening the plenary session, the Secretary of Research and Development Policies and Programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Carlos Nobre, emphasized the importance of the Commission’s work and the need for risk evaluation to be based on the Precautionary Principle, much to the incredulity of many of those listening to him.

 

As soon as the Secretary left the plenary session, the president of CTNBio announced that the vote would be taken on changing the body’s statutes. But after hearing the first question, he immediately announced that the process would be speed up to avoid the ‘obstruction principle.’

The regulations were set to be altered at the meeting following a court ruling that obliged CTNBio to introduce more transparent procedures and allow access to the information received for evaluation, except for data covered confidential business information.

The members of the Commission used the chance to alter the statutes to approve changes to the ritual of the evaluation process.

 

They shortened the evaluation periods, meaning that GMOs releases will be even quicker in practice, reinforcing CTNBio’s image as a rubber-stamping institution that has so far never refused a request for commercial release.

The vote to approve the release of GM beans is set to take place shortly.

 

 

 

 

Additional Information

source: http://chartsbin.com/view/578

 

 

 

This above map shows global distribution of Genetically Modified (GM) crops.

  • Current World hectarage of biotech crops: 148.6 million hectares in 2010

  • World hectarage of biotech crops: 135 million hectares in 2009

 

Key findings of 2010:

  • Growth remains strong, with biotech hectarage increasing 14 million hectares - or 10 percent - between 2009 and 2010.

  • Farmers in Pakistan and Myanmar, planted insect-resistant Bt cotton for the first time.

  • Sweden (the first Scandinavian country to commercialize biotech crops) planted a new biotech high-quality starch potato approved for industrial and feed use.

  • Germany also planted the same biotech potatoes as Sweden in 2010, resuming its place among the eight EU nations now growing either biotech maize or potatoes.

  • The most popular crop is soya, while the most common modification is tolerance to herbicides.

  • International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) expects an additional 12 countries to adopt biotech crops by 2015.

As recently as a decade ago, Genetically Modified (GM) agriculture was virtually non-existent, but has since expanded rapidly, both in terms of total area planted and the number of countries involved.

 

GM crops is the fastest adopted crop technology,  80-fold increase  from 1996 to 2010, year-to-year growth  of 9 million hectares or 7%.

 

 

What is Genetically Modified (GM) crops?

Genetically modified (GM) crops are crops derived from genetically modified organisms.

 

Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. These techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis (mutation breeding) where an organism is exposed to radiation or chemicals to create a non-specific but stable change.

 

These plants will have increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content.

 

For example (Deborah B. Whitman 2000), plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms also can be used.

 

The best known example of this is the use of B.t. genes in corn and other crops. B.t., or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae.

 

B.t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the European corn borer.

 

 

Rank

Country

2010 – Area (million hectares)

2009 – Area (million hectares)

Biotech Crops

Note

1

USA

66.8

64

Soybean, Maize, Cotton, Canola, Squash, Papaya, Alfalfa, Sugarbeet

2

Brazil

25.4

21.4

Soybean, Maize, Cotton

3

Argentina

22.9

21.3

Soybean, Maize, Cotton

4

India

9.4

8.4

Cotton

5

Canada

8.8

8.2

Maize, Soybean, Canola, Sugarbeet

6

China

3.5

3.7

Cotton, Tomato, Poplar, Papaya, Sweet Pepper

7

Paraguay

2.6

2.2

Soybean

8

Pakistan

2.4

Cotton

9

South Africa

2.2

2.1

Soybean, Maize, Cotton

10

Uruguay

1.1

0.8

Maize, Soybean

11

Bolivia

0.9

0.8

Soybean

12

Australia

0.7

0.3

Cotton, Canola

13

Philippines

0.5

0.5

Maize

14

Myanmar

0.3

Cotton

15

Burkina Faso

0.3

0.1

Cotton

16

Spain

0.1

0.1

Maize

17

Mexico

0.1

0.1

Cotton, Soybean

18

Chile

0.1

0.1

Maize, Soybean, Canola

less than 0.05

19

Colombia

0.1

0.1

Cotton

less than 0.05

20

Honduras

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

21

Czech Republic

0.1

0.1

Maize, Potato

less than 0.05

22

Portugal

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

23

Romania

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

24

Poland

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

25

Costa Rica

0.1

0.1

Cotton, Soybean

less than 0.05

26

Egypt

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

27

Slovakia

0.1

0.1

Maize

less than 0.05

28

Sweden

0.1

Potato

less than 0.05

29

Germany

0.1

Potato

less than 0.05

 

Last updated - March 2011