(Austin, Texas) Nearly 40,000 field tests of genetically engineered organisms were authorized by the Department of Agriculture between 1987 and 2002 – more than 10,000 in the past two years alone – despite serious environmental threats and inadequate regulations in place to monitor their impacts, according to a new report released today by TexPIRG. 1,125 of these tests were conducted in Texas, including tests of genetically engineered cotton, corn, and rice.
The report, Raising Risk: Field Testing of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S., highlights potential health and environmental risks associated with the release of genetically engineered plants. For example, 500,000 bushels of soybeans had to be quarantined and eventually destroyed last fall when a field test of a genetically engineered crop designed to produce a pig vaccine was not properly kept separate from conventional crops. In addition, a report last year from the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that the government permitted a variety of genetically engineered corn found toxic to monarch butterflies under field conditions to be grown commercially. The report concludes that, if field experiments are not properly monitored, the resulting genetic pollution can put farmers’ livelihoods and the environment at risk.
“Our environment is being used as a laboratory for widespread experimentation on genetically engineered crops with profound risks that, once released, can never be recalled,” said Jason Tipton, Field Organizer for TexPIRG. “Until proper safeguards are in place, this unchecked experiment should stop.”
Findings of the new TexPIRG report include:
• As of January 2003, the ten states and territories that have hosted the greatest number of field test sites are: Hawaii (4,566), Illinois (4,014), Iowa (3,831), Puerto Rico (2,957), California (1,709), Nebraska (1,699), Pennsylvania (1,672), Minnesota (1,414), Indiana (1,256), and Idaho (1,170).
• Since 1995, seven of the top 10 companies seeking to conduct field tests have merged into two companies: Monsanto and DuPont.
• Between 1987-2002, Monsanto (or a now wholly-owned subsidiary) applied to conduct the greatest number of field tests, with more than 3,000 applications.
• Nearly 70% of all field tests conducted in the last year now contain secret genes classified as “Confidential Business Information,” which means that the public has no access to information about experiments being conducted in their communities.
These experimental genetically engineered crops are growing in the open environment primarily to determine whether or not an engineered seed successfully grows and expresses the desired trait. TexPIRG charged that field testing genetically engineered crops in such a widespread way poses serious threats to the environment, public health, and neighboring farmers.
“The environmental and public health effects of genetically engineered crops should be determined before these crops are grown in the open air,” said Tipton. “To conduct field tests before doing safety tests is premature and hazardous-- it’s like carrying out clinical trials of a drug before the laboratory tests are complete.”
Another goal of the field tests is to obtain information about potential ecological risks associated with genetically engineered organisms. However, independent reviews of the data collected by the Department of Agriculture demonstrate that very little data has been collected. As a result, despite the large number of field experiments that have occurred, fundamental questions about their impact remain unanswered, including long-term impacts on the soil and non-target species.
TexPIRG and Genetically Engineered Food Alert call for a moratorium on genetically engineered foods unless:
• independent testing demonstrates safety,
• labeling for any products commercialized honors consumers’ the right to know, and
• the biotechnology corporations are held accountable for any harm done.
“Genetically engineered foods have no place on supermarket shelves or in our environment until proper safeguards are in place,” added Tipton. “This rush to market without regard for human health and the environment could be disastrous.”
