Letter to Director General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation - June 2001
| NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX DORSET, HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT |
75 FAIRFIELD RD |
| Tel: 01962
852122 Fax: 0870-168-1079 Email: nlpwessex@bigfoot.com Web:www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex |
|
| Dr Jaques Diouf Director General Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Viale delle Terme di Caracella 00100 Rome Italy |
 |
10 June 2001
Dear Sir,
Biotechnology conference - Bangkok, Thailand 10-12 July, 2001
We understand there will shortly be an important conference in the Far East on agricultural biotechnology and that the output of the conference will feed into policy fora at a variety of supra-national levels (G8, OECD, FAO etc).
We are pleased therefore to read your recent statement that it is essential that the subject of biotechnology in world agriculture be openly addressed.
There is considerable concern, however, that such fora as the Bangkok conference are likely to be skewed towards political, academic and industrial interests whose outlook is not sufficiently strategic and long term. The experience of the previous OECD conference in Edinburgh in 2000 chaired by Professor Krebs, for example, did not provide adequate opportunity for the voice of wider social and environmental concerns to be properly heard.
For this reason we are writing to draw to your attention to a number of developments in biotechnology which it is important you consider before, during and after the conference proceedings. Enclosed with this letter is a wide variety of material relating to these developments. We have included a document index so that you may select those items which are of most interest, in the event that you do not have time to scrutinise them all.
In summary, however, there are three basic points we wish to emphasise in the context of the material supplied:
1) Whilst many citizens and organisations around the world, including ourselves, are opposed to the use of recombinant DNA in applied global agriculture the same objection does not necessarily apply to other important developments in modern biotechnology - such as marker assisted breeding (MAB).
There is increasing evidence that the latter technology is likely to prove considerably more successful in making a useful contribution to a sustainable future for world agriculture than the use of transgenics. From this perspective we argue strongly that the use of rDNA in global agriculture is not even necessary (although it may have a role as a research tool for basic science provided its use is restricted to contained conditions).
2) The performance of transgenic crops to-date has been grossly misrepresented and overstated. Contrary to commonly held belief there is little evidence to demonstrate that these crops provide superior performance to conventionally bred varieties, particularly when judged against husbandry practices based on integrated pest management and other systems of sustainable agriculture.
3) Last year the FAO published its interim report on global food needs and provision to 2030. It produced a highly positive prognosis and revealed that such an outcome is not dependent on the deployment of genetically modified organisms in world agriculture (nonetheless we remain concerned that external pressures are subsequently being applied to FAO in order to secure a change to the prognosis in its final report due next year in order to give succour to disgruntled genetic engineering interests).
Given this broader perspective we would emphasise that the use of transgenic crops in world agriculture is neither necessary nor justified when judged in the context of a thorough risk-benefit analysis. There is, however, a role to be played by more appropriate aspects of modern biotechnology, particularly when these are combined with wider and more relevant methods of natural resource management (effective soil and water conservation, for example, is likely to be a much more important factor in future production levels than any contribution from developments in genetics).
We hope this information and perspective will assist you in considering the proceedings of the Bangkok conference in a fuller context without undue weight being given to the short-term interests of those likely to be most strongly represented at the event (if the Edinburgh experience is anything to go by). There can be little justification for pursuing the recombinant DNA paradigm when more responsible and effective approaches are clearly already at the disposal of humanity.
In this context it is our carefully considered view that the release of rDNA into the environment has no place in developing a sustainable strategy for global agriculture. We hope that you will find that the material we have provided with this letter properly supports that conclusion.
Yours faithfully,
Natural Law Party Wessex
(Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight)
Documents Enclosed [*]
1. Monsanto marker assisted breeding (MAB) progress
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/monsantomab.htm
2. FAO report on future food needs
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/faoreport.htm
3. GM rape heading for scrap heap?
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/syngentarape.htm
4. Solution to GM debate?
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/GMdebatesolution.htm
5. Soil Association policy statement on MAB
http://www.biotech-info.net/marker_assisted_breeding.html
6. Benbrook commentary on GM soy performance
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/Benbrooksoyreport.htm
7. Nebraska GM soy yields study
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmnebraskasoycomment.htm
8. Erroneous basis of UK GM trials -WSSA reports
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmtrialsscience.htm
9. Pollen flow from herbicide resistant canola - Canada
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Triple-Herbicide-Resistance-ISB.htm
10. GM sugar beet IACR study
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/sugar-beet-paper-commentary.htm
11. Bt cotton profitability and pest attack in US
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/btcottonnoprofit.htm
12. Effective cotton IPM in Australia as GM hits
problems
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/ipmpays.htm
13. New Scientist - sustainable farming projects in
developing countries
http://www.biotech-info.net/ordinary_miracle.html
14. Genetic diversity
and disease control in ricehttp://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v406/n6797/full/406718a0_r.html&filetype=
15. Global food chain consolidation, US NFU report -
extract
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/LordSainsbury.htm
16. Global food chain consolidation, US NFU report -
full report
http://www.nfu.org/index.cfm?category=legislative&title=issues&id=67
17. SCATS - concerns over link up with US seed business
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/scats.htm
18. Fundamental errors in rDNA conceptual thinking -
Edinburgh OECD conference
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/oecdgmerrors.htm
19. Edinburgh OECD conference briefing paper
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/oecdgmbrief.htm
20. GE fantasy and the human genome project
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/GEfantasy.htm
21. ‘Georgia unknown’ - new US corn viruses
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/NewUScornviruses.htm
22. Bioterrorism and rDNA
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/Bio-terrorism.htm
23. ‘A call for wisdom in world agriculture’
http://www.natural-law-party.org/key_issues/immediate_global_ban_of_gm_food.htm
24. Lifesciences breakthrough for health and
agriculture
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/biosciencefrontier.htm
25. Dismantling the myth of genetics as the principal
constraint on responsible global agricultural production
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/geneticsmyth.htm
[*where document concerned is not on line a URL for similar material is provided]
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