WESSEX

 
Campaign to ban genetically engineered food

GM Crops not needed for Sustainable Industrial Products
( The address of this page is www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmindust.htm )

15 January 2000

We are grateful to Norman John of New Zealand for forwarding the interesting article below about the establishment by Cargill Dow Polymers of a major processing plant in the US for the production of non-fossil fuel derived plastics in the US.  The plastics are to be made from corn (maize).

Significantly Cargill Dow state that no biotechnology is involved in creating the new plastic from corn.

This article raises a number of important biotechnology issues in relation to the 'need' or otherwise to use genetically modified crops to encourage raw material (ie non-food) production from renewable resources including:

1)  This development is a particular exposure of the bogus nature of claims that we 'must' have GM crops to promote the creation of renewable resources for industrial use to replace fossil fuels - just as the arguments that we must have GM crops to feed the world in a sustainable way are also proving bogus (see: www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/geneticsmyth.htm ).

2) Because the biotechnology industry is rapidly losing the argument over the need for GM crops to feed the world, in desperation it is rapidly turning towards pretending (again with false claims) that GM crops are essential for the global production of raw materials from renewable sources.

3) There was particularly devious example of this last year when Monsanto did a media splash concerning their 'development' of a biodegradable plastic from GM oilseed rape (canola).  However, follow up investigations (CHICAGO, Sept 28 (Reuters) ) revealed that the technology was non-viable and infact Monsanto had no plans to commercialise it.  (Interestingly Greenpeace have already promoted the world's first non-PVC credit card, made from Monsanto's own bio-degradable, non-GM plastic!!!!!!! see: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_468000/468219.stm )

In other words, Monsanto had merely run a spin exercise to try and dupe the world into believing that we have to have this technology to manage global resources more sustainably. They had been forced to try this new tack because of effective defeat on the GM food issue in a number of important global markets. (For another example of the way Monsanto dishonestly try to manipulate 'sustainability' issues to promote GM crops see: (http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/monsanto_sustainabilty.htm )

4) The article below demonstrates that major developments can take place in developing renewable resources for industrial products from agricultural crops without the need to use GM technology.

5) By contrast attempts recently reported by the John Innes Institute to genetically engineer oilseed rape (canola) to produce a new oil aimed at serving the detergents and polymers markets resulted instead in the plant generating enzymes to degrade the new product in the plant - and what's more nobody knows why.

"During the past two years, there has been an increasing recognition of the complexity of the metabolic pathways involved in seed oil biosynthesis ....These results indicated that, although the transgene was expressed at high levels and was able to direct the biosynthesis of petroselinic acid, additional factors in the transgenic plants resulted in the breakdown of the novel fatty acid and largely negated the activity of the transgene.... Why do the transgenic rapeseed plants break down this novel fatty acid?" p.44 - 45  John Innes Centre 1998/99 Annual Report.

(For more information on the unscientific approach to the introduction of GM crops generally see www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/eagmconf.htm .)

5) The Cargill Dow plant in question is due to come on stream 2001, and is therefore clearly not dependent on the supply of corn crops which have been specifically genetically engineered for the purpose of plastic production.

6) Given that both Cargill and Dow have major investment in or links with biotechnology it is significant that they should have also specifically indicated that no biotechnology is involved in creating the new plastic from corn.  This would appear to be an acknowledgement that the public do not wish to see the use of such technology even in non-food products, and also that such use is unneccesary.

7) It is not clear, however, whether the Cargill Dow plant will be accepting corn varieties that have already been genetically modified for other purposes unrelated to the production of plastic, such as Bt crops which are intended to control pests on the farm. (Bt varieties are the main GM crop grown by US corn growers. Research repeatedly shows -  see http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/2000/000105.html -     that these crops do not produce an economic benefit to farmers in most years so there should be no difficulty in Cargill Dow insisting that their farmers supply them only with non-GM corn for the plastics plant.)

8) Many consumers and environmentalists will be concerned to ensure that GM crops are not accepted by the new Cargill Dow plastics plant for various reasons including:

* encouraging the use of GM corn crops as a supply for the plant will increase the chances of the food chain becoming contaminated in the process  - either through cross pollination with neigbouring non-GM crops or through human error allowing mixing within the distribution chain with food varieties.

(For instances of this type of human error with GM crops see: http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/NewsNov-Dec97/GENews12-4beetmistake.html and http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/canola.htm .  Also Note: Because Bt GM corn is classified as a pesticide (!) astonishingly it has by-passed the application of food safety regulations by the US Food and Drug Administration even though Bt comes from a family of proteins (lectins) some members of which are known to be toxic to mamals).

* the environmental impact of current GM corn crops is not specifically dependent on their end use, food or industrial.  New uses for existing GM crops will not help reduce their environmental impact which may adversely affect beneficial insects or soil micro-organisms important to soil fertility.

9) Finally at the 1998 annual conference of British Association for the Advancement of Science in Cardiff a paper was presented by Professor Dennis Murphy of the Brassicas and Oilseeds department of the John Innes Centre. Professor Murphy is a global expert on the development of oilseed varieties for industrial uses.

He has identified the possiblity of rapidly developing new varieties without the use of genetic modification using the new knowledge which is being provided by gene-mapping or "genomics".  Refering to this approach, Farmers Weekly commented 11 September 1998: 'oilseed crops can replace oil from non-renewable fossil sources and genetically modified crops need not play any role in the revolution'. This would mean sticking with conventional plant breeding techniques but being able to use them more effectively.

According to Farmers Weekly Professor Murphy pointed out that moving away from GM crops would also solve environmental concerns, concluding: 'This is a novel strategy that is not widely appreciated as yet. But it could provide a real alternative to the use of GMOs."

IN SUMMARY - there are variety of options when it comes to providing renewable resources for industry from farm crops, and the use of GM elements is not necessary.

The reason that biotechnology companies try to promote the GM option in this, as in all, sectors (food, industry, and medicine) is because of the associated intellectual property rights and the resulting control these legal rights give them over their competitors, suppliers and customers, particularly farmers.

"Farmers will be given just enough to keep them interested in growing the crops, but no more.  And GM companies and food processors, will say very clearly how they want the growers to grow the crops."
(Friedrich Vogel, head of BASF's crop protection business - Farmers Weekly 6 November 1998)

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex

Corn Becomes Plastic at Huge New Nebraska Factory
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2000/2000L-01-11-01.html


NEW YORK, New York, January 11, 2000 (ENS) - The kernel of a new industry
for America's heartland is a first of its kind factory that will make the
raw material of plastic cups, packaging and fabric from corn, not petroleum.

Cargill Dow Polymers, a joint venture between Cargill Incorporated and The
Dow Chemical Company, today leapfrogged over other plant based plastics
companies by announcing plans to build a "world-scale facility" in Blair,
Nebraska to manufacture plastic products from corn.

Companies have been experimenting for years with plant based plastics as
replacements for petroleum based plastics with their toxic byproducts,
wastes and inability to break down in landfills.

Cargill Dow Polymers (CDP) has stepped into the lead by offering a family of
durable plastics derived entirely from annually renewable agricultural crops
that can compete with hydrocarbon based fibers and packing materials in cost
and performance. Cargill and Dow plan to invest more than $300 million in
the business and production facility.

A new technology will use natural plant sugars from corn to make a
"proprietary" polylactide (PLA) polymers for fibers, plastic packaging and
other products. Future applications of the technology could include
injection blow molded bottles, foams, emulsions and chemical intermediaries.

This new technology allows the company to "harvest" the carbon that living
plants remove from the air through photosynthesis. Carbon is stored in plant
starches, which can be broken down into natural plant sugars. The carbon and
other elements in these natural sugars are then used to make NatureWorkstm
PLA, which will be made into utensils, packaging or fibers for cloth adn
carpeting.

The new CDP plant will be located at the site of Cargill's corn wet milling
plant at Blair. It is expected to come on stream in late 2001 with an annual
capacity of 140,000 metric tons of NatureWorks PLA polymers.

"The decision to locate at Blair was based on a number of factors, including
the availability of natural plant sugars needed to make PLA, proximity to
existing Cargill operations, easy access to railroads and freeways and an
excellent pool of people qualified to train for high value jobs as
operations technicians," said Jim Stoppert, CDP president and CEO.

Approximately 200 people will be employed in the construction of the CDP
plant, which will be operated by a staff of about 100 people.

Cargill's corn wet milling division produces about 600,000 tons of Sweet
Bran® 60, 100,000 tons of corn gluten meal, 50,000 tons of corn oil, 1.5
billion pounds of high fructose corn sweeteners, and 70 million gallons of
fuel grade ethanol.

Cargill’s new Bioscience Division in Blair is working on genetically
engineered technologies "to enhance food and people’s health," Cargill said
in a statement in May 1999. No biotechnology is involved in creating the new
plastic from corn, Stoppert said today.

William Stavropoulos, president and CEO of Dow, said, "What's exciting about
this technology is its multitude of applications and the fact that plastics
can come from renewable resources such as corn," Stavropoulos said.

"NatureWorks polymers offer the opportunity to develop truly sustainable
products, and because we are using raw material that can be regenerated year
after year, it is cost competitive and environmentally responsible," said
Stavropoulos.

CDP currently has the capacity to manufacture more than 4,000 tons of PLA
per year at a plant near Minneapolis, and plans to double that capacity
during 2000. In addition, it expects to begin construction of a large scale
European plant in two years.


© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000. All Rights Reserved.

Corn Yields Biodegradable Cups

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