Greenpeace calls on Governments to ignore Japan and Brazil, and agree crucial deal to make GE industry pay for any damages

Published on May 16, 2008 - 7:06:49 AM

By: Greenpeace

Bonn, 16 May 2008 -- Governments gathered at the meeting of Parties to the Biosafety Protocol (1) have failed this week to agree clear rules to make genetic engineering (GE) polluters pay for the damage their crops cause to biodiversity, human health, farmers, and the environment. Japan and Brazil have been particularly obstructive during the negotiations, blocking any attempt to introduce rules to hold GE companies liable.

All governments have agreed to continue negotiations for a legally binding international regime on liability for GE organisms. But they have not yet managed to reach agreement on the details of how this would work.

"It is good news that all countries signed on to legally binding rules in principle, but the destructive attitude of Japan and Brazil gives real concern for future negotiations," said Dr. Doreen Stabinsky, Greenpeace International genetic engineering expert. "These governments have attempted to take a monkey wrench to the talks in an effort to exempt the GE industry from liability for the damages caused by their dangerous crops. Other countries must not allow this – they must agree a deal that ensures GE polluters pay."

To date, there have been at least 216 cases of contamination caused by GE organisms in 57 countries (2). The costs of an illegal GE rice contamination in the US, uncovered in 2006, could exceed $1.2 billion (3). "These damages have to be paid for" continued Stabinsky. "The next meeting of the Biosafety Protocol is scheduled to take place in Japan in 2010. If Japan continues to block agreement on this crucial decision, the international community must find a less hostile host."

Notes:

1. The Fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, is meeting from 12-16 May 2008, in Bonn, Germany. A Greenpeace briefing outlining the current play of the negotiations is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/LiabilityandRedress Greenpeace's position paper on sampling, detection and the problem of illegal transboundary movements is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/Article18

2. The GE Contamination Register, run by Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK, provides details on GE contamination cases that were uncovered in recent years. It is available at www.gmcontaminationregister.org.

3.In 2006 traces of Bayer's GE rice variety LL601, were discovered in US rice supplies. The contamination came from experimental field trials which had ended in 2001. The discovery triggered the largest financial and marketing disaster in the history of the US rice industry, at least 30 countries were affected. Greenpeace calculated that the total costs of the disaster could exceed $1.2 billion http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/bayer-rice-scandal-could-cost

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