February 21, 2007

On Tuesday the 20 February 2007, Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for the Environment announced at a public discussion organised by Friends of Europe, that she was concerned if Europe has a negative effect on countries in the developing world by imposing its standards on the rest of the world with regard to regulation on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).

As a follow-up to this event, plant researchers from the developing world met in Brussels at a meeting organised by European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how European regulation on GM foods influence legislators in the developing world to call for unnecessary tough testing.

Thousands of people die every day in the developing world due to hunger or the use of harmful pesticides in agriculture. No death or any illness throughout the world has ever been connected to the use of GMO. The zero tolerance of GM foods unauthorised in Europe and the labelling of GM foods imported to Europe have a huge influence on legislators and research funding organisations in the developing countries. Even countries which have no export of foods to Europe are afraid of approving or supporting the development of GM foods because of European policy.

Former head of unit at the European Commission, DG Research and head of the unit of biotechnology at the OECD Mark F. Cantley said: ”The global influence of the European policy on GMO has a massive economic and political impact on our trading partners. The economic and political disincentives Europe imposes to the use of more modern and precise technologies and more environmentally friendly agricultural production makes it impossible for the developing world to develop new improved crops. We have painted ourselves into a corner in Europe, from which we shall not easily escape, and from which we have a malign influence on poor countries all over the world.

Professor Jennifer Thomson from University of Cape Town says: "Genetically modified maize resistant to the devastating African endemic maize streak virus is in the pipeline for field trials. The problems of regulation are therefore of immediate importance. We are concerned about what we consider the over-regulation prevalent in Europe and question whether this may prevent, or severely delay, the approval of these plants that are desperately needed by poor Africans, many of whom eat maize three times a day.”

Professor Zen Zhangliang President of Beijings Agricultural University said: “ In China we have a long tradition for plant development. Genetic engineering is a better and more precise technology. We have already many Chinese GM products on the market and we will invest massively in agricultural biotechnology in the coming years. It does not seem rational to me that the Europeans want to slow down their agricultural development with superfluous and heavy regulations.”

Professor Marc van Montagu, Department of Molecular Genetics, Ghent University and president of European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) concluded at the meeting with following comment: “A sustainable agriculture and a less-polluting industry badly need the GM technology and the transgenic plants developed, worldwide, over the last ten years. Exactly in the same period, well-intentioned regulators in the EU set up an unnecessary and very costly application of the regulatory system. No small or medium enterprise, public research centre, charity or foundation can afford to open a file for approval through the established system. It is a crying injustice towards the developing world, towards nearly 85% of the world population.

European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) aims at enhancing the collaboration between European researchers and researchers in the developing world to fight hunger and disease. EAGLES has been launched by the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB). The project is supported by the European Commission and is a collaboration between EFB and scientific partners in Europe, China, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa and the Philippines. Members of the Steering Committees include prominent scientists from China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Syria and Thailand."

Ghent, Belgium
March 8, 2007

Different prominent scientists have expressed their concerns that Europe is damaging countries in the developing world by imposing its standards to regulate genetic modified (GM) crops. The current regulatory policy is damaging the prospects of public sector biotech to the point where most of its contributions are stalled. If this is the situation in South Africa and China, where experience in the development of GM crops and biosafety regulations are in place, what then is the hope for other developing nations that desperately need transformation towards a knowledge-based bio-economy.

An international discussion

On 20th February, at a public discussion organised by Friends of Europe, Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for the Environment, has expressed concern that Europe is damaging countries in the developing world by imposing its standards to regulate GM crops. Also Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University, and a World Food Prize laureate commented: “This Debate is important because what we think and do in Europe affects poor people in developing countries.”

As a follow up to this event, the European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) invited plant researchers from South Africa, China and Brazil to hear their views on how European regulations on GM crops influence legislators in the developing world.

Former head of unit at the European Commission, DG Research and head of unit of biotechnology at the OECD Mark F. Cantley said:”The economic and political disincentives Europe imposes on the use of new technologies for environmentally friendly agriculture makes it impossible for the developing world to develop new improved crops”.

In her presentation, Professor Jennifer Thompson of University of Cape Town underlined the reality of this fact: “We are concerned about what we consider the European over-regulation and question whether this may prevent, or severely delay, the approval of plants that are desperately needed by poor Africans”.

Even China, according to Professor Chen Zhangliang, President of Beijing Agricultural University, has failed to approve the commercial release of GM rice due to concerns over future exports “even though China only exports 1% of its total rice production”.

Looking forward to other attitudes

Critics of GM crops can no longer base their campaigns of disinformation on arguments that biotechnology is simply a tool with which multinational corporations will subjugate unwitting farmers. Rather they should acknowledge that most, if not all innovative research in agricultural biotechnology in the developing countries is done in public research institutions working towards public goods outputs.

The EU’s Environmental Council has repeatedly ignored the advice of the EU’s expert advisory bodies, such as the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), on the proven safety of GM crops. The Council repeatedly fails to implement its own laws, favouring instead state censorship rather than offering choice. This departure from rational decision-making is damaging the credibility of the regulatory system on which much of Europe’s innovative and industrial capacity relies. Europe’s inconsistencies on the regulation of GM crops threaten the efforts of public research to create food security in the developing world.

The Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries (IPBO) is an initiative of Gent University, Belgium, that is committed to building capacity in developing country agricultural programs through training, consultancy, collaborative and technology transfer services.

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