Barcelona, Spain
June 30, 2008
First field study in Europe
carried out by a researcher from the UAB Institute of
Environmental Science and Technology
The cultivation of genetically modified maize has caused a
drastic reduction in organic cultivations of this grain and is
making their coexistence practically impossible. This is the
main conclusion reached in one of the first field studies in
Europe carried out by a researcher of the Institute of
Environmental Science and Technology of
the Autonomous University of
Barcelona, who has analysed the situation in Catalonia and
Aragon, Europe’s main producers of transgenic foods.
The study was carried out by researcher Rosa Binimelis of the
UAB Institute of Environmental Science and Technology. Binimelis
is working on the European project ALARM (Assessing Large Scale
Risks for Biodiversity with Tested Methods) and analyses the
application of the concept of coexistence between Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMOs) and conventional organic agriculture
in the European Union. The results of the research have been
published in
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.
Since GM cultivation was introduced in Spain in 1998 it has been
surrounded by controversy, and in the past few years has evolved
into a debate over the concept of coexistence between transgenic
and conventional organic agriculture. This concept was
introduced in 2002 by the European Commission with two
objectives: to deal with the emerging concerns derived from the
admixture of different cultivations, since organic farmers are
committed to not using GMOs, and to make it easier to lift the
existing "de facto" moratorium - which is not officially
recognised - within Europe so as to introduce new transgenic
cultivations. Thus the concept of coexistence, after applying
technical measures, should make it possible to operate freely in
the market while reducing the political conflicts linked to
GMOs. The European Commission is planning this year to evaluate
how the policy of coexistence has been implemented in the past
ten years.
Before GMOs were introduced previous studies in this area were
carried out using modelling or experimental cases, due to the
lack of commercial fields in most European countries. Researcher
Rosa Binimelis however analyses the situation in Catalonia and
Aragon, where the commercial cultivation of transgenic crops
began in 1998. This research is therefore unique and especially
relevant to the European Commission's assessment scheduled for
this year and involved qualitative techniques by means of 51
in-depth interviews and participant observation (twenty-two
interviews with farmers while the remaining were held with key
political figures, including government representatives,
scientists, academics, as well as NGO members and other
organisations and platforms).
The situation of both types of cultivations in 2007 was the
following: the surface used to plant transgenic maize in
Catalonia and Aragon was respectively 23,000 ha and 35,900 ha,
which represent 55% and 42% of the total surface used to
cultivate this crop. The variety of maize grown is the Bt corn,
which is designed to ward off the European corn borer and is
used mainly for feed production. The maize production process is
integrated in cereal cooperatives, which cover the entire
production chain from the sale of seeds and inputs to
commercialisation, including technical advice. This system
involves numerous infrastructures, which makes it difficult and
expensive to segregate GM from organic and conventional
production. There are no specific silos for organic maize while
only a minority of cooperatives in the region restricts the use
of GMOs. In parallel, organic agriculture is in expansion in
Spain, increasing in the number of producers and hectares.
However, this trend is reverted for the case of maize.
The author’s analysis reveals a social confrontation between
proponents and opponents of GM technology regarding the
consequences it can have and the measures to be taken in
regulating and taking responsibility for any cases of admixture.
Confrontation also exists when trying to define technical
measures that would guarantee this coexistence since there are
many doubts about its objectives. Finally, the study analyses
the difficulties organic farmers would face in order to claim
compensations if admixture took place, due to technical
uncertainties in measuring the level of “contamination” or its
origin, but also because of possible social confrontations and
doubts about how the GM technology was introduced. In addition,
many farmers who could sue for damages prefer not to in order to
avoid any local confrontations in small villages.
As a result, the area devoted to organic maize was reduced by
75% in Aragon from 2004 (year in which the first analyses were
carried out) to 2007 and by 5% in Catalonia between 2002 and
2005. The percentage in Catalonia is lower because the only
available data come from the first years of the analyses, when
the cultivation of GM maize was not as widespread as it is
today. The trend was confirmed by organic certification bodies
for the following years. This will lead to even more
difficulties in obtaining local organically grown maize.
Given this context, the research concludes that both the concept
of coexistence and different implementation proposals have
generated new problems instead of solving existing conflicts. By
making farming models and the interpretation of their impacts an
individual choice, the only issues taken into account in the
system of compensation are individualised and economically
valuable aspects. The results until now point to the promotion
of genetically modified farming over any other alternative.
Coexistence of Plants and Coexistence of Farmers: Is an
Individual Choice Possible?
Rosa Binimelis
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA),
Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Journal Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Publisher Springer Netherlands
ISSN 1187-7863 (Print) 1573-322X (Online)
DOI 10.1007/s10806-008-9099-4
Subject Collection Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
SpringerLink Date Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Accepted: 19 April 2008 Published online: 7 May 2008
Abstract
The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in
Europe has been characterized by controversy. In 2002, the
European Union introduced the concept of “coexistence” as a
compromise solution that, through the establishment of
science-based technical measures, should allow the market to
operate freely while reducing policy conflicts on GMOs. However,
the concept remains highly contested and the technical measures
difficult to apply. This paper presents qualitative research on
the conceptualization and implementation of the coexistence
framework in two regions of Spain (Catalonia and Aragon), where
42% and 55% of maize was GM in 2006, respectively. In this
context, the concept of coexistence and its proposed
implementation both fail to resolve previous conflicts and
actually work to generate new ones through the individualization
of choice and impacts. Considerations of the social conditions
in which the technology and the management measures are
implemented were not taken into account. This resulted in the
promotion of biotechnological agriculture over other
alternatives.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/53432182v0616534/ |
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