FoE Europe - GMOs

GMOs, Food and Farming campaign
Working for healthier, tastier food that is good for the environment and people

Why countries should keep their national GMO bans

The Commission is trying to force France, Hungary, Greece and Austria to drop their bans on the only GM crop allowed to be grown in the EU, Monsanto’s Bt maize, MON 810. It is also trying to force Austria to drop its ban on GM maize T25, which is currently not even authorised.

Monsanto maize MON810 has proven to have adverse effects on:

- non-target organisms (including indirect and long-term effects [4] [5] [6])

- soil health [7] [8] [9]

- aquatic ecosystems [10] [11]

- and causes insect resistance to the toxin it produces (Bt) [12] [13]

The genetic sequence inserted into the plant is fused with the plants’ own DNA, so MON810 in fact produces an unknown protein. The laboratory tests submitted use the pure version of the Bt toxin, produced by bacteria, and not the one produced by the plant.[14] This invalidates most, if not all, MON810 environmental ‘safety’ tests. Furthermore, the level of Bt toxin produced by MON810 varies strongly between different locations, over time, and even between plants on the same field.[15]

T25 is tolerant to the pesticide glufosinate, which has recently been banned by the EU for being unsafe to use.

NOTES:

[4] Prasifka, P.L., Hellmich, R.L., Prasifka, J.R. & Lewis, L.C. 2007. Effects of Cry1Ab-expressing corn anthers on the movement of monarch butterfly larvae. Environmental Entomology 36:228-233.

[5] Andow, D.A. and A. Hilbeck. 2004. Science-based risk assessment for non-target effects of transgenic crops. Bioscience 54: 637-649.

[6] Obrist, L.B., Dutton, A., Romeis, J. & Bigler, F. 2006. Biological activity of Cry1Ab toxin expressed by Bt maize following ingestion by herbivorous arthropods and exposure of the predator Chrysoperla carnea. BioControl 51: 31-48.

[7] Baumgarte, S. & Tebbe, C.C. 2005. Field studies on the environmental fate of the Cry1Ab Bt-toxin produced by transgenic maize (MON810) and its effect on bacterial communities in the maize rhizosphere. Molecular Ecology 14: 2539–2551.

[8] Stotzky, G. 2004. Persistence and biological activity in soil of the insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis, especially from transgenic plants. Plant and Soil 266: 77-89.

[9] Zwahlen, C. Hilbeck, A. Gugerli, P. & Nentwig, W. 2003. Degradation of the Cry1Ab protein within transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis corn tissue in the field. Molecular Ecology 12: 765-775.

[10] Rosi-Marshall, E.J., Tank, J.L., Royer, T.V., Whiles, M.R., Evans-White, M., Chambers, C., Griffiths, N.A., Pokelsek, J. & Stephen, M.L. 2007. Toxins in transgenic crop byproducts may affect headwater stream ecosystems. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences of the USA 41: 16204–16208.

[11] Bøhn, T., Primicerio, R., Hessen, D.O. & Traavik, T. 2008. Reduced fitness of Daphnia magna fed a Bt-transgenic maize variety. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology DOI 10.1007/s00244-008-9150-5.

[12] Chilcutt, C.H. and B.E.Tabashnik. 2004. Contamination of refuges by Bacilus thuringensis toxin genes from transgenic maize. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101:7526-7529.

[13] Andow, D.A. 2001. Resisting resistance to Bt corn. In: Genetically engineered organisms: assessing environmental and human health effects. Letourneau, D.K. and B.E. Burrows (eds.) Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

[14] Rosati, A., Bogani, P., Santarlasci, A. Buiatti, M. 2008. Characterisation of 3´ transgene insertion site and derived mRNAs in MON810 YieldGard maize. Plant Molecular Biology DOI 10.1007/s11103-008-9315-7.

[15] Nguyen, H. T. & J. A. Jehle 2007. Quantitative analysis of the seasonal and tissue-specific expression of Cry1Ab in transgenic maize MON810. Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection 114: 820-87.

Why the two GM maize should NOT be grown in the EU