Industry Welcomes European Parliament Hearing on Green Biotech

On the 10th anniversary of safe and sustainable farming with green biotechnology EuropaBio welcomes the European Parliament’s public hearing: Biotechnology: Prospects and Challenges for Agriculture in Europe.

EuropaBio strongly supports fora such as this Parliamentary hearing that look to examine the arguments for and against GM farming in a methodical, sensible fashion, using science-based research to drive the discussion.

GM crops approved following rigorous safety assessments, have been grown around the world commercially for 10 years. They have been consumed for over 10 years with not one single recorded negative health incident. Currently, biotech crops are grown in five EU countries (Czech Rep, France, Germany, Portugal & Spain). The evidence is that European countries and public opinion are increasingly less negative and more open to biotech crops. Yet a small minority of Member States are trying to block the growth in acceptance of biotech crops in Europe and deny European consumers and farmers the choice to use labelled, safe products.

In an increasingly globalised and competitive world, EuropaBio believes it is important to encourage companies to bring innovative products to market for the benefit of both farmers and consumers. The future competitiveness of Europe’s agricultural and food processing industries will depend on plant genomics, biotechnology and their smart application. Europe’s position in this arena is declining as a consequence of the political inertia caused by the polarised and increasingly heated debate between opponents and advocates.

Benefits of GM crop production include:

Improved yields and increased food security while cutting the use of spraying, minimising the soil erosion that conventional weed control methods entail, and reducing carbon emissions through reduced reliance on fuel-intensive crop maintenance.
In a study by PG Economics[i] published in October 2005 farmers using the technology increased their income by US$27 billion during the period 1996 to 2004 with significant, additional environmental benefits delivered; the accumulative economic benefits during the nine years to developing countries ($15 billion), exceeded benefits to industrial countries ($12 billion) (1)
Benefits for the environment, consumers, farmers and European competitiveness (2)


For more information, contact

Adeline Farrelly

Tel: +32 2 735 0313 Direct: +32 2 739 1174 Mobile: +32 475 93 17 24

Email: a.farrelly@europabio.org

Simon Barber, Tel: +32 2 735 0313 Direct: +32 2 739 1172 Mobile: +32 476 44 24 20

Email: s.barber@europabio.org

About EuropaBio
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has 60 direct members operating worldwide and 25 national biotechnology associations representing some 1500 small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of biotechnology products.

http://www.europabio.org

(1) GM Crops: The Global Economic and Environmental Impact - The First Nine Years 1996 - 2004. AgBioForum 8 (2&3): 187-196 (2005) (PDF 242 kb)

http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk/pdf/v8n23a15-brookes.pdf

(2) http://www.europabio.org/documents/06Benefits%20Brochure.pdf