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July 14, 2009
More and more genetically
modified plants are entering the market world-wide. In Europe,
in contrast, approvals are stagnating. A report by the ‘Joint
Research Centre’ of the EU Commission perceives in this lack of
coordination a problem for the global agricultural trade.
Due to varying legal requirements,
and also because of divergent political evaluations of
genetically modified (GM) products, GM plants are not approved
world-wide at the same time. This ‘asynchronous approval
practice’ leads to growing problems in the agricultural trade
world-wide, according to the report from the EU Joint Research
Centre (JRC).
Some
states, as well as the European Union, legislate that unapproved
GM plants fundamentally are not allowed to enter the country as
an import, even in the case that their cultivation is approved
in their country of origin and that the plants are classified
there as safe. Even the smallest traces of such unapproved GM
plants result in the agricultural deliveries in question being
refused entry at the border. Many times in the past, this EU
policy of ‘zero tolerance’ has led to import bans that primarily
have affected animal feed.
The JRC
report postulates that the problems resulting from asynchronous
GMO policy will increase. Currently, approximately thirty
different GMO plants (Events) are in commercial use and JRC
scientists expect an increase in this number to 120 by the year
2015. Additionally, in some countries hybrids from two different
GM plants (‘stacked genes’) are regarded as new GM plants that
must be submitted to their own approval procedure. In other
countries, such hybrids are tolerated if both original lines
have been approved..
If the EU
retains its policy of ‘zero tolerance’ for unapproved GM plants,
it may become increasingly difficult on the world market to
obtain agricultural products that are free from admixtures of
any kind of the numerous GM plants that are cultivated in other
countries but unapproved in the EU. The JRC report estimates
that the price for such products will rise significantly. The EU
is dependent on the import of animal feed.
A report by
the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)
also projects a marked rise globally in the commercial use of
genetically modified plants. By 2015, GM varieties are expected
to represent as much as 76 per cent of global soy production. In
the case of cotton, this figure is expected to be 45 per cent
and for maize and rapeseed 20 per cent. The OECD report predicts
that for beans, peanuts, barley, potatoes, rice and sunflowers,
herbicide-tolerant or insect-resistant GM varieties may be
market-ready by 2015. In the case of other domesticated plants
such as wheat, apples, rice or tomatoes, the development of new
varieties with modified product quality or agronomic traits is
seen to be so advanced that a market entry would appear to be
possible from 2015.
See also on GMO-Compass:
Further information:
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