RIGHT OF REPLY
'GMO is safe'
Hans Lombard
Posted Tue, 05 Dec 2006

In October 2006, iafrica.com ran an opinion piece on the safety of genetically-modified food, which sparked a response from Hans Lombard, public relations consultant to the agricultural biotechnology industry in South Africa. Here is his unedited response...

Genetically modified crops (GMOs) have been produced for the past 11 years. Seven in South Africa. Yet we still have the anti-GM lobby claiming, without any substantiated medical or scientific evidence, that GM crops:

• Pose a health risk to man and beast.
• Threaten the environment.
• Will cross-pollinate with non-GM varieties.

As far as health risks and the safety of GM food are concerned, after 11 years on the market, there is not a shred of medical or scientific evidence available anywhere in the world to prove any adverse effects of GM food/crops on humans, animals or the environment. Nobody has suffered as much as a tummy ache from GM food. The environment is untarnished by it.

The most recent study from leading scientists of the Swiss Expert Committee for Biosafety (SCEB) reports: "The safety of GM crops is generally assessed more intensely than that of conventionally bred crops. In addition to the selection process performed during classical breeding, a thorough pre-market risk assessment of potential unwanted effects of the GM crop on the environment is a prerequisite to obtain permission to market any GM crop variety."

The Royal Society of London, one of the world’s leading and most respected academies of science, says: "There is no potential harm from GM technology. Biotech crops may even be safer than regular food."

This report was endorsed by eight of the world's leading academies of science.

The European Union Commission funded 81 scientific research projects on GMOs over a period of 15 years, costing R640-million, and came to the conclusion: "GM food is both safe for humans and the environment."

The French Academy of Science concurs. After intensive research it came out in full support of GMOs: "There is no evidence to date showing that GMOs pose potential health or environmental risks."

France’s Academy Medicine says: "There is no evidence that GMOs pose a risk to humans."

Two highly reputable United Nations Agencies — the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) have fully endorsed GMOs in a joint statement: "Biotechnology (GMOs) provides new and powerful tools for research and for accelerating the development of new and better foods."

As the old saying goes: The proof of the pudding is in the eating. In 2005 some 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries on all six continents planted 90-million hectares of GM crops, up 11 percent over the previous year.

In the USA, for the past 11 years, 280-million people (40-million in South Africa for the past seven years) have each year been eating GM food without developing as much as a headache.

As far as cross-pollination is concerned, plants can only cross-pollinate with plants of the same species. Maize cannot cross-pollinate with soya or cotton plants, or vice versa.

As far as maize is concerned, farmers have learned long before the advent of GM crops to plant neighbouring yellow and white maize at least 100 metres apart to avoid the two varieties cross-pollinating. If this management discipline is maintained, no cross-pollination can occur.

• Hans Lombard is a public relations consultant to the agricultural biotechnology industry in South Africa.
• Lombard made similar comments in response to a recent article in Noseweek magazine. You can read Lombard's response to the Noseweek article at www.seedsofdeception.com, or click here to read journalist Jeffrey Smith's response to Lombard's claims. Update June 21, 2007: Biotech crops giant Monsanto has been ordered to withdraw an advertising claim that no negative reactions to genetically modified foods have been reported until they can produce sufficient substantiation.