GE Soya The First & Final Fight?
In 1996 the first US shipments of Genetically Engineered (GE) soya arrived at European shores. They were met by Greenpeace protesters and consumer activists, who were adamant that Monsanto, one of the worlds leading producers of GE seeds, would not get away with sneaking Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into the food chain without public debate, consumer choice and safety testing.
Soya
Soya is hugely important in the fight against GMOs as it is a very popular ingredient, both in organic and non-organic foods. Over 60% of processed food in a typical supermarket contains soya extracts, including vegetarian sausages and soya mince. Soya flour and unprocessed soya beans are also popular in organic and health food shops.
In Europe, where the public generally refuses GE food, the majority of GE soya ends up in animal feed. This means that GMOs can also sneak into your trolley if you eat meat and diary products including eggs.
The scary part is that no scientific studies exist which properly evaluate the long-term risks of GE food on human health. Plus once released into the environment GMOs can never be recalled and can spread completely out of control.
European pressure zone
The mobilisation of European consumers and environmentalists has been successful and kept GMOs at bay in Europe over the past eight years, while opposition to GE crops and GE food has spread to other parts of the world. Loosing billions of dollars in lost soya, maize and rapeseed exports due to GE contamination, the US government in 2003 lodged a WTO complaint against European Union GMO policies.
European governments and the EU Commission appear to be bending under the combined pressure from a powerful GE industry, the Bush administration and the WTO "forced trade" regime. As a result, the 1998 EU moratorium on new GMO approvals is now being lifted, and several new GE crops and products are about to be approved in Europe.
As of mid April all food manufacturers selling food in Europe have to apply the new strict labelling legislation for GE food. Every food ingredient or additive that has been produced from a GMO needs to be labelled regardless of whether the GE trait can be detected or not. Unfortunately like every law this new legislation has its loopholes; meat and dairy from animals that have been fed with GE grains is NOT labelled.
Contamination
Meanwhile, loosing the battle for public opinion and markets, Monsanto has embarked on a contamination strategy, hoping to force a fait accompli whereby GE crops and GE food would become unavoidable as farmers who had previously refused to use GE crops would find their fields contaminated. The front line for this battle takes place in Brazil, the only major source left in the world for non-GE soya.
In the past few years, illegal Monsanto GE soya seeds have been smuggled over the border to southern Brazil and Paraguay from Argentina where all soya is now transgenic. Faced with widespread GE contamination in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the Brazilian government last year caved in to Monsanto and temporarily approved planting of GE soy in this state.
Will Monsanto succeed with their GE contamination strategy? Will Europe and the rest of the world be forced to accept GE crops? Can agribusiness corporations be prevented from taking over the world food production system? Will GE crops wreck havoc on our fields? Will the WTO and president Bush get to decide what you eat?
