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GM Probucts AN INDUSTRY BUILT ON MYTHS PRODUCTS INDUSTRY BUILT MYTHS While biotechnology corporations and some governments continue to press for the more widespread introduction of genetically modified organisms into the environment and food supply, opposition to GMOs is on the rise worldwide and cultivation of GM crops is in decline in many regions. he biotechnology industry secures funding from a vast array o public and private sources, promising to combat hunger, poverty, malnutrition and now even climate change. Yet large-scale cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is still limited to six countries, with the vast majority of these crops grown for fibre, industria agrofuels and animal feed, not for feeding people. No new beneficial traits of GM crops have been successfully commercialised by the biotech industry, despite persistent assurances abou the development of drought resistance’ and nitrogen fixation through to the availability of enhanced nutrients and a reduced need for fertiliser.’ Mos "new" GM crops turn out to be existing herbicide-tolerant and insect- resistant gene traits stacked in a single modified crop. In fact, insect resistance and herbicide tolerance are the only two traits that have been developed and cultivated on a large scale, purportedly to reduce pesticide usage. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), 99 per cent of commercially grown GM crops are still herbicide tolerant or insect resistant.‘ In the European Union (EU), 43 out of 49 applications for GM cultivation are for herbicide-tolerant or insect-resistant varieties.’ Fifteen out of 23 pending applications in the US are also for herbicide tolerance or insect resistance.° Creative Accounting ISAAA annual reports tend to be overreliant on industry data, contain inaccurate statistics and have few or unclear sources. They also cite their own chair, Clive James.’ ISAAA inflates its figures through double and triple accounting by using its concept of "virtual hectares", which involves multiplying the actual surface area with the number of GM traits in crops. In this way, a field of one hectare in size, growing a GM crop that is tolerant to two herbicides and has an insect-resistant gene, counts as three hectares.’ Few GM Crops in Few Countries GM crop cultivation is confined to just a few countries around the world. inety-five per cent of GM crops are cultivated in the US, Brazil, Argentina, ndia, Canada and China. The other 19 countries (out of a total of 25) that he ISAAA reports on collectively grew a mere seven million hectares.’ Almost 60 per cent of all GM crop field trials worldwide are carried out in the United States." According to ISAAA's 2009 annual report, GM crops occupy 134 million ectares.'' This is out of a total area of global agricultural land of over 4.9 billion hectares,’? meaning that the combined area of all GM crops in 2009 covered just 2.7 per cent of all agricultural land. Over 97 per cent of global armland remains GM free. Despite public and private investment for over three decades, GM crops by Joseph Zacune et al. for Friends of the Earth International © February 2011 Edited extracts from FOEI's report "Who Benefits from GM Crops? An Industry Built on Myths" Website: http://www.foei.org APRIL - MAY 2011 NEXUS ¢ 19 Website: http://www.foei.org www.nexusmagazine.com