The issue of the acceptability of GM has been thrust back into the spotlight by the EU approving BASF’s starch potato Amflora. Mintec’s Robert Miles reports
The long-running debate over GMOs has heated up in the past week with the EC giving the go-ahead to BASF's GM starch potato Amflora. Although it is only approved for the production of industrial starch, critics say it represents a thawing of the EU's GM freeze.
The subject of GM science has been practically taboo in Europe in recent years. Very few GM crops are actively grown within its borders and very few are imported, except specifically for animal feed.
So are there positives? GMOs offer great potential savings in costs and labour. They could offer increased yields and require less chemicals or processing. On the other hand an over-reliance on biotechnology risks giving too much control of the world's food to major corporations.
On a global scale, GM developments are happening fast. One of the most recent developments, GM sugar beet, has taken off in the US. From a standing start of a small 1,000ha field trial in Idaho in 2005, utilisation has swiftly advanced to now cover 90% to 95% of the total US sugar beet sown area, at almost 0.5 million ha.
Currently more than half the sugar grown in the US is GM. If GM sugar cane were as widely available as GM sugar beet, the ultimate figure would probably be very close to 100%.
Americans don't tend to sell processed sugar to foreign markets. They have too sweet a tooth, importing about as much again as they produce. But US sugar goes into processed products, cakes, sweets, chocolate and the like, making it harder for objectors to avoid, even if any such products would have to be flagged up on pack in the EU.
And given that a whole host of other GM crops are in development, avoidance looks as though it will be increasingly difficult. Bananas seem quite likely to be on the list soon, with developers looking into options such as delayed ripening, increased sweetness and resistance to disease.
Rice is another one, with key targets including disease and flood resistance and drought tolerance. Potatoes have long been in trial and development, with retailers investigating the potential of modifying starch, preventing bruising or sprouting, and disease-resistance.
GM maize and soya last year covered about 60 million ha each globally. In the EU, GM maize is grown on 100,000ha, a tiny figure by comparison.
Certainly the wolves appear to be gathering around the EU. But how tasty a morsel would gobbling up the EU market be for the biotech giants?
Possibly less than the European consumer might suppose. Markets in China and India are already primed to take up much of what might in future be produced, meaning the EU can afford to be more selective in what it accepts.
The debate over GM in Europe is not going to go away, and in many ways has barely even begun. But critics will fear that GM crops in the EU will only be on the increase after the latest decision.
The long-running debate over GMOs has heated up in the past week with the EC giving the go-ahead to BASF's GM starch potato Amflora. Although it is only approved for the production of industrial starch, critics say it represents a thawing of the EU's GM freeze.
The subject of GM science has been practically taboo in Europe in recent years. Very few GM crops are actively grown within its borders and very few are imported, except specifically for animal feed.
So are there positives? GMOs offer great potential savings in costs and labour. They could offer increased yields and require less chemicals or processing. On the other hand an over-reliance on biotechnology risks giving too much control of the world's food to major corporations.
On a global scale, GM developments are happening fast. One of the most recent developments, GM sugar beet, has taken off in the US. From a standing start of a small 1,000ha field trial in Idaho in 2005, utilisation has swiftly advanced to now cover 90% to 95% of the total US sugar beet sown area, at almost 0.5 million ha.
Currently more than half the sugar grown in the US is GM. If GM sugar cane were as widely available as GM sugar beet, the ultimate figure would probably be very close to 100%.
Americans don't tend to sell processed sugar to foreign markets. They have too sweet a tooth, importing about as much again as they produce. But US sugar goes into processed products, cakes, sweets, chocolate and the like, making it harder for objectors to avoid, even if any such products would have to be flagged up on pack in the EU.
And given that a whole host of other GM crops are in development, avoidance looks as though it will be increasingly difficult. Bananas seem quite likely to be on the list soon, with developers looking into options such as delayed ripening, increased sweetness and resistance to disease.
Rice is another one, with key targets including disease and flood resistance and drought tolerance. Potatoes have long been in trial and development, with retailers investigating the potential of modifying starch, preventing bruising or sprouting, and disease-resistance.
GM maize and soya last year covered about 60 million ha each globally. In the EU, GM maize is grown on 100,000ha, a tiny figure by comparison.
Certainly the wolves appear to be gathering around the EU. But how tasty a morsel would gobbling up the EU market be for the biotech giants?
Possibly less than the European consumer might suppose. Markets in China and India are already primed to take up much of what might in future be produced, meaning the EU can afford to be more selective in what it accepts.
The debate over GM in Europe is not going to go away, and in many ways has barely even begun. But critics will fear that GM crops in the EU will only be on the increase after the latest decision.
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