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Vienna
Conference on Co-existence between GM and Non GM crops Vienna, April 5th 2006: Speaking from the Austrian Presidency Conference on Co-existence between GM and Non GM crops in Vienna today, Simon Barber, Director of EuropaBio’s Plant Biotechnology Unit commented; “So far today, I have heard little about co-existence and very little about real choice. The only speaker to make any sense of this issue is Commissioner Fischer Boel, it is helpful that she addressed the real issues of co-existence.” “It must frustrate many in Europe that others, such as Commissioner Dimas spoke about issues that are irrelevant to co-existence such as environmental risk assessments for approvals of new products; co-existence is about existing approved products,” says Barber. “The Commissioner appears to be confused about the facts; he misinformed the audience by telling them that “terminator technology” is being sold and by stating that “small farmers are being put out of business by GMOs. The evidence shows that out of the 9 million farmers growing GM crops worldwide, 90% of them are small scale farmers.” “Furthermore, it is not up to Commissioner Dimas to decide whether EU consumers do or don’t want GMOs. Survey after survey shows that they want choice. Farmers and consumers can act for themselves. Speaking at a conference entitled “Freedom to choose” comments by Mr Graefe Zu Baringdorf MEP that farmers are being “forced” to use GM technology are simply wrong. It does however appear there are many here today who wish to deny ANY choice to farmers.” Co-existence between GM and non-GM crops has been a success in Europe for years and there is no substantiated evidence to the contrary. “In Europe alone, there are thousands of farmers and dozens of scientists with real field experience of successful co-existence who were not asked to share their knowledge at this conference,” continued Barber EuropaBio agrees with the Commissioner for Agriculture that establishing binding EU wide rules on co-existence for farmers who would like to grow GM crops is not the solution. ENDS For more information, contact: Sian Hughes, Tel: + 32 2 548 0277 Mobile: +32 485 915 707 Email: sian.hughes@thecentre.eu.com Simon Barber, Tel: +32 2 735 0313 Direct: +32 2 739 1172 Mobile: +32 476 44 24 20 Email: s.barber@europabio.org Adeline Farrelly Tel: +32 2 735 0313 Direct: +32 2 739 1174 Mobile: +32 475 93 17 24 Email: a.farrelly@europabio.org About EuropaBio EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has 65 direct members operating worldwide, 15 associate members and 5 bioregions as well as 24 national biotechnology associations representing some 1500 small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of products. http://www.europabio.org
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