Today, the European Parliament adopted eight resolutions against further import approvals for transgenic maize and cotton. Most of the plants are resistant to herbicides and some produce insecticidal proteins that were not part of the food chain prior to the introduction of genetic engineering. The European Parliament has used the resolutions to both address the environmental effects in countries where they are cultivated and uncertainties regarding health risks of food and feed produced from the crops.
Around 100 different genetically engineered crops are already approved for import into the EU. These include soybeans, maize, cotton, oilseed rape and sugar beet, which are often engineered to be resistant to several herbicides. In addition, maize, cotton and soybeans may also produce insecticidal toxins. In the EU, the plants are mostly used for the production of animal feed. They are mainly grown in North and South America. The European Parliament resolutions are not binding for the EU Commission which makes the final decision on market approvals.
Testbiotech has followed developments in regard to EU authorisations for genetically engineered plants for many years and criticises serious flaws in risk assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA):
- Transgenic plants may contain more than a dozen insecticidal toxins with no sufficient history of safe use, which can thus enter the food chain. In addition, residues may be present from spraying the crops with up to half a dozen complementary herbicides to which the transgenic plants are made resistant. However, EFSA largely ignores potential cumulative and combinatorial effects.
- It is known that plant enzymes can delay the degradation of some insecticidal toxins and drastically enhance their toxicity. However, in experiments to determine dosage effects, the toxins are only tested in isolation. Consequently, their toxicity is systematically underestimated.
- There is reason for concern that some of the toxins could trigger immune responses (alone or in combination), and thus may contribute to chronic diseases of the immune system, e.g. inflammation. However, specific data on these potential health effects are mostly absent.
- Many publications show that residues from spraying with herbicides, such as glyphosate and glufosinate, can impact the composition of the intestinal microbiome. However, EFSA has still not validated specific methods to measure and assess the potential health impacts emerging from disturbances of symbiotic microbial communities.
- Environmental and agricultural conditions in the countries of cultivation can also have a significant impact on the composition and residues of genetically engineered crops. Nevertheless, EFSA continues to accept the fact that companies only submit data from field trials representing a small range of the regions, practices and climate conditions under which the plants are likely to be grown and harvested.
Currently, the only transgenic crop grown in the EU (Spain and Portugal) is maize MON810. Recently, it was discovered that crosses between maize and wild species of teosinte (which are considered to be hazardous weeds in Spain and France) can happen much more frequently than previously thought. Offspring appear to show higher fitness and, therefore, an increased potential to become invasive. However, the EU Commission has not so far taken any measures to stop the cultivation.
It is evident that the EU has an ingrained major problem with the independent risk research of genetically engineered plants. GMO regulation as laid down in Directive 2001/18 requests that “Member States and the Commission should ensure that systematic and independent research on the potential risks involved in the deliberate release or the placing on the market of GMOs is conducted.” However, on most of the current applications all data, research and publications come from industry.
Contact:
Christoph Then, info@testbiotech.org, Tel + 49 151 54638040
Further information: