Last year, across the globe, 17 million farmers sowed billions of genetically engineered seeds in more than 420 million acres of arable land. Corn, soybeans and cotton are major players, but others such as papayas, canola and sugar beets also play an important role. The amount of land planted with genetically engineered crops (a subset of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) makes up about 12% of all of arable land on Earth. This amount of land could entirely cover the countries of France, Germany, Italy and all of the U.K., with room to spare. But you won’t find many farmers planting genetically engineered crops in these countries.
That’s because many farmers in Europe aren’t legally allowed to.
Any seed company that wants to sell engineered seeds to farmers must get approval from the European Food Safety Authority. And those brave enough to start the process face a nearly impenetrable wall of bureaucratic resistance that they can only slowly chip away at. Only large companies with millions of dollars to spend and years to wait have any hope of getting through the process.
For example, the German chemical company BASF first sought approval for a genetically engineered potato in 1996. The potato, called the “Amflora,” produces more starch than the potato from which it is derived. The potatoes are not meant for food—the starch is useful in making glue, packaging and paper. Almost fourteen years later, in 2010, the Amflora was finally approved for planting in Europe. The potato had been in an endless regulatory loop for so long that when the EU decided to change the approval process in 2003, BASF had to re-submit paperwork. The years of voting, discussion and back-and-forth prompted one BASF scientist to remark that “it’s hard when you see an innovative product go through the loops again and again. These decisions are not about science but about politics.”
Despite the EU approval, a whole new round of opposition began, causing some member countries such as Poland, Luxembourg and Austria to ban Amflora anyway. Other countries, such as Italy and Bulgaria, have vowed blanket bans on any genetically engineered crop, including potatoes. In Germany, the country where this new potato was invented, the government stopped short of banning the spud, but did make it illegal to plant a popular variety of genetically modified corn.
If government obstacles weren’t enough, after the Amflora approval, anti-GMO vandals dug up test fields of genetically modified potatoes or stood in the way of their planting. Jonathan Bryant, a vice president of marketing at BASF, said that some of these protests had a “touch of violence,” and worried about the safety of his employees.
BASF recently announced it would be moving its plant science headquarters from Germany to the United States. Bryant claimed that the move was prompted, at least in part, by the powerful “headwind” that genetically engineered crops face in Europe.
In case you’re wondering whether health dangers from genetically modified crops account for the opposition, consider this: Genetically modified crops have been grown and cultivated in large quantities for 16 years. It is estimated that 3 trillion meals containing genetically engineered ingredients have been eaten. Yet there isn’t a single shred of scientific evidence that these foods have had any ill repercussions on human health.
Genetic modification, the process by which scientists add, subtract, turn up and down genes that determine a particular trait, is a powerful tool in the agriculturalists’ toolbox. Farmers and biotechnology engineers have a right to use genetic modification as they see fit. A number of real problems have already been solved with this tool—such as the need to protect corn against an insect that regularly takes it down, and the need to grow potatoes that yield more quality starch. The scientific possibilities are limited only by the imagination—but actual production is thwarted by anti-GMO laws.
In Europe, the government’s default position is that GMO-based foods are dangerous, and therefore banned. Seed companies cannot sell, and farmers cannot grow, the GMOs they deem best for their land. They suffer from trespassing vandals mowing down their fields and government regulators banning their harvests. All this is a massive violation of the rights of property, production and trade of everyone involved.
Did you miss last week’s #GMOMonday post about papaya pioneering? Get caught up here.
Image credit:
JD Hancock via Compfight
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