On March 16, 2023, the environment ministers of EU member states will discuss the deregulation of new GMOs, or NGTs (NewGenomic Techniques), NBTs(New Breeding Techniques).
Friends of Earth Europe (FOEE), the largest network of European environmental organizations, denounces the influence of Big Ag lobbies on the European Commission and the ongoing dangers.
1) New GMOs, the techniques.
Genomic editing techniques developed in the last 20 years to make new GMOs aspire to modify DNA in a fast, low-cost and ‘precise’ way, according to those who support them. (1) Among them:
- targeted mutagenesis. DNA mutations without insertion of new genetic material,
- cisgenesis. Insertion of genetic material from plants of the same or closely related species,
- intragenesis. Insertion of a combination of different sequences obtained from plants of the same or closely related species,
- CRISPR-Cas9. The Cas9 enzyme is used as a ‘scissor’ to cut DNA and insert the desired mutation without introducing new genes. (2)
2) New GMOs, current rules and deregulation ahead.
The European Court of Justice (EUCJ) had already clarified in 2018 that new GMOs (NBT, NTG) are also subject in the EU to the same rules of risk assessment and prior authorization for deliberate release into the environment established for ‘conventional’ GMOs. (3)
Pesticide and seed monopolists (Big Ag, Big 4) have therefore organized-even with the support of once unsuspected politicians such as Paolo De Castro, former agriculture minister in Italy and former chairman of the Agri Commission in the European Parliament. (4)
2.1) The power of lobbies
Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of Earth note Big Ag ‘s investment in lobbying in the Old Continent (5.6). Only in Brussels and Strasbourg, that is, without considering what is not registered in individual EU member states, refers to:
- € 12 million/year for Bayer, BASF and Syngenta (2021). In addition to
- € 1.7 million approximately in the lobby through Euroseeds, and
- unspecified amounts through various other partners such as Copa-Cogeca, FEFAC(European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation) and Coceral (representing ABCD, Archer-Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus, among others), etc.
The European Commission has followed the biotech industry’s claims and demands to the letter, FOEE notes in rereading the contributions made by Euroseeds in its July public consultation on the subject.
2.2) No risk, no label information?
The new GMOs are presented by the European Commission as ‘safe,’ in defiance of the risks highlighted in the scientific literature (1,4,7) and the official interpretation of the Court of Justice. (3) And their regulation should come in line with that of non-GMO plants, according to Brussels.
No information should therefore be provided on the label of products that contain or are derived from the new GMOs (or NTG, NBT), in the desiderata of Big Ag. As indeed already happens, contra legem, in the case of genetically modified endive. (8)
New GMOs-with the same, false rhetoric employed at the turn of the century for ‘traditional’ GMOs-are thus presented as the ‘solution’ to food security problems. With the added hoax, already belied by the facts, of the hypothetical possibility of reducing the use of pesticides and other agrotoxics. (9)
3) Civil society protests
‘The European Commission let agribusiness lobbies dictate the consultation questionnaire, refusing to consider concerns raised by farmers, retailers, consumers and environmental groups‘ (Mute Schimpf, FOEE).
Astrid Oesterreicher, EU Biotech Policy Advisor in Testbiotech, reiterates the need already expressed to the European Commission to ensure the risk analysis of genome editing-derived organisms (e.g., unintentional alterations. Kawall, 2021) to health and ecosystems. (10)
Eric Gall, deputy director and policy manager of IFOAM Organics Europe, points out that equating new GMOs (NTG, NBT) with conventional plants results in an unacceptable restriction of consumers’ right to information and freedom of choice. (11)
4) Plant patents
Corteva and Bayer-Monsanto-which alone already control 40 percent of the global seed market-are using the technique of genomicediting to strengthen their monopoly on seeds and plants:
- corporations patent the genetic information of plants that may result as a result of biotech interventions but also naturally, claiming as their own all plants with such genetic traits as their own inventions,
- their monopoly is getting stronger and stronger, and through patents they will be able to control our food and agriculture by restricting farmers’ access to seeds. Corteva has already applied for 1430 patents on new GMOs while Bayer-Monsanto 119. (11)
5) Interim Conclusions
The only real solution to food security and climate change problems, as FAO (2019) has already recommended, is agroecology. (12) With attention to the recovery of native and resilient varieties developed over centuries in individual areas.
Agroecology is the model to which European policies must be directed-with good memory of the Biodiversity 2030 Strategy, and the European Court of Auditors ‘ (2020) rejection of the European Commission’s previous management of biodiversity (13,14).
Enough. For further study, please refer to theebook ‘
GMOs, the big scam
‘.
Dario Dongo and Alessandra Mei
Cover cartoon from Ysope (2013), Guérilla alimentaire.
Notes
(1) NBT, the dark side of new editing techniques. Scientific Review. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.3.21
(2) EFSA (2022). FAQ: Criteria for risk assessment of plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/faq-criteria-risk-assessment-plants-produced-targeted-mutagenesis-cisgenesis-and-intragenesis
(3) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. New GMOs, Alt from the EU Court. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 31.7.18
(4) Dario Dongo. GMOs, the new empire advancing. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.7.19
(5) Deraling EU rules on new GMOs. Corporate Europe Observatory. https://corporateeurope.org/en/2021/03/derailing-eu-rules-new-gmos 29.3.21
(6) Revealed: How the agribusiness lobbyists ghot-write the EU’s proposal on new GMOs. https://friendsoftheearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Revealed-Agribusiness-lobbyists-ghost-write-the-European-Commissions-proposal-on-new-GMOs.pdf FOEE
(7) Dario Dongo, Riccardo Clerici, Silvia Comunian. New GMOs, it is imperative to strengthen risk analysis. Scientific Review. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.6.20
(8) Dario Dongo. GMO endive, the complaint of French farmers. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.1.20
(9) Dario Dongo. New GMOs serving agrotoxics. Proof of 9 in Monsanto’s new GE corn. Petition. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.7.20
(10) Katharina Kawall (2021). The generic risks and the potential of SDN-1 applications in crop plants. Plants (Basel). 2021 Nov; 10(11): 2259. doi: 10.3390/plants10112259 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8622673/
(11) Exposed: How biotech giants use patents and new GMOs to control the future of food. https://corporateeurope.org/en/2022/10/exposed-how-biotech-giants-use-patents-and-new-gmos-control-future-food FOEE, 20.10.22
(12) Dario Dongo, Camilla Fincardi. Agroecology, SDGs, salvation. FAO’s decalogue. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.4.20
(13) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. Special – EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, the plan announced in Brussels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 31.5.20
(14) Dario Dongo, Marina De Nobili. CAP, pesticides and biodiversity. EU Court of Auditors Report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.7.20
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in Law from the University of Bologna, she attended the Master in Food Law at the same University. You participate in the WIISE srl benefit team by dedicating yourself to European and international research and innovation projects.
