The inevitability of GM contamination

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• The inevitability of GM contamination
• Dr Janet Cotter
• Greenpeace Science Unit
• Exeter University, UK

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Outline

• Cases of GM contamination
• from experimental field trials
• from commercial plantings
• Impossibility of coexistence canola

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Rice LL601 (Bayer, US 2006)

• Bayer reported US rice was contaminated with an
  experimental herbicide tolerant GE variety,
  LL601.
• The following year, a similar contamination
  incident was discovered with LL604, another type
  of experimental GE rice from Beyer.
• Route of contamination
• unknown. Bayer suggests
• Hand of God

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Costs US 1 billion mostly to farmers who then
have to sue the developer for compensation
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Other cases of GM contamination

• GM pharm crops (2002)
• Traces of GM corn for pig vaccine were found in
  soy grown on former test plots in Nebraska.
• USDA imposed a 250,000 fine.
• Papaya in Thailand (2004)
• Government undertook extensive testing and
  destruction programme
• Maize Bt10 (2005)
• Syngenta's illegal Bt10 GE maize entered the
  European feed chain. Syngentas quality control
  procedures unable to differentiate between Bt10
  (approved) Bt11.

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GM Contamination from field trials

• Several cases of contamination from field
  trials.
• In many cases, route of contamination not
  known, but mix ups and human error important.
• Expensive!

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Contamination cases also from commercial GM
crops Starlink (2001)

• GM corn approved only for animal feed found in
  hundreds of food products.
• Forced to remove StarLink from sale. Formal
  recall order for all 350,000 acres of StarLink
  corn planted. Exports to Japan21 and Korea were
  contaminated.
• Costs are estimated to have been around 1
  billion US.

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Impossible Co-existence
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Problems with GM maize in Spain
Even though a mall acreage, there are conflicts
The liability scheme is perceived as
transferring the problem to the organic farmers.
As a result, many farmers are reluctant to
publicly report cases of contamination in a
context where there is a need for social
cohesion, as in small villages.Consequently,
data on admixture cases are not systematically
registered, although the organic certification is
withdrawn in these cases.
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Problems of with GM maize in Spain (cont.)

• Organic farming is diminishing as a result of
  GM contamination
• the area devoted to organic maize was reduced by
  75 in Aragon where GM Bt maize is
  concentrated.

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Oil seed rape (canola) wheat
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Canola- impossible to control
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Many scientific studies

• Documented feral populations of GM canola in US
  and Canada
• Persistence of seeds means difficult for farms
  to be free of GM canola once grown.
• Cases in Australia floods, spillages and mix
  ups.

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Importance of feral populations

• Appear within a few years of starting GM
  cultivation
• Stacked traits where more than one type of GM
  herbicide tolerant canola grown
• difficult to control
• Act as a reservoir for GM genes for contamination
  
• Year-on-year contamination increases

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In Japan, escaped GM oil seed rape formed feral
populations. Can form reservoir of GM genes to
contaminated any neighbouring crops
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Although predominately self-pollinating, there
will be contamination of wheat
Adventitious presence of nontransgenic
herbicide resistant wheat seed was detected from
both certified and farm-saved seed producers
higher levels of adventitious seed presence were
associated with volunteer plants from previous
crops of the resistant cultivar and mechanical
mixture during harvesting.
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Summary

• Many cases of GM contamination, including from
  experiments.
• Cross-pollination may be one route, but there
  are many more mixing of seed, spillages etc.
• Co-existence is impossible
• There will be GM contamination if GM crops are
  grown.