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Plenary Keynote AddressX International Agriculture Symposium "AGROSYM 2019"3-6 October 2019, Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Failures of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs):
Australia as a case study
John PaullUniversity of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
[email protected]@utas.edu.au
1
John PaullUniversity of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
[email protected]@utas.edu.au
The Failures:*Social*Political*Legal *Economic*Agronomic*Ecologic
Plenary Keynote AddressX International Agriculture Symposium "AGROSYM 2019"3-6 October 2019, Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
GMO Non-GMO
96.2%
3.8%
World Agriculture (ha)
data source: ISAAA, 2018
Failure: Low uptake3
data: ISAAA, 2018
Rest11%
India6%
Canada6%
Argentina13%
Brazil26%
USA38%
World total = 189.8 m ha5 countries account for 89% of GMOs
Failure: Low diffusion4
North & South America = 83% of World GMOs Paull & Hennig, 2019
5
www.gmo-free-regions.orgEuropean GMO-Free Regions
Failure: Rejections6
Rest1%
Canola5%
Cotton13%
Corn31%
Soy50%
data: ISAAA, 2018 4 GMO crops account for 99% of GMOs
Failure: Low diversity8
The lie that underpins the GMO industry:
Regulators“same”
Patent Office“novel, unique,
different, a real invention”
‘Substantial Equivalence’
Paull, 2008
Failure: two-faced lie9
GM
-free
is im
port
ant
0%
15%
30%
45%
60%N
ethe
rland
s
UK
Bel
gium
Aus
tral
ia
Japa
n
Can
ada
USA
Arg
entin
a
Ger
man
y
Sout
h K
orea
Bra
zil
Fran
ce
Rus
sia
Spai
n
Italy
Mex
ico
Chi
na
60%
49%49%45%45%45%45%
43%43%41%
37%37%36%33%32%31%
28%
data source: GfK, 2017; n=23,000
Food shoppers don’t want GMOsFailure: No social licence
10
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
GMO Ag Organic Ag Rest Ag
91%
8.8%0.2%
Australian Agriculture (ha)
data sources: ABCA, 2019, ABS, 2018, Cotton Australia, 2019, Paull, 2019a, Willer & Lernoud, 2019
Failure: Low uptake12
Australia: 0.4% of World GMO Agriculture (ha)Paull & Hennig, 2019
13
Australia: 51% of World Organic Agriculture (ha)Paull & Hennig, 2019
14
Withdrawn
Rejected
Approved
0 40 80 120 160
155
0
12
Office of the Gene Technology Regulator167 Applications (2001-2019)
data source: OGTR, 2019
Failure of Regulator = no rejections15
Pric
e pe
r ton
ne
A$450
A$475
A$500
A$525
A$550
A$575
2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19
Non GM canola (Albany)Non GM canola (Kwinana)GM canola (Albany)GM canola (Kwinana)
data: CBH,2019; Taylor, 2019; graph: Paull, 2019b
7.2%
Failure: Price Price penalty for GM Canola = 7.2%
GMO
Non GMO
16
Com
mun
ity A
ttitu
des
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Safe Don't Know Not safe
68%
22%
10%
Australian consumers, data source: Cormick & Mercer, 2017; n=1225
Failure: Social verdict = ‘GMOs not safe’17
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
GMO Food Non-GMO Food
100%
0%
Failure: Supermarkets = No GMO food
Australian supermarkets: Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, 2019
18
“Non GM” image: J Paull
19
Num
ber o
f GM
tria
l site
s w
ith ro
gue
cano
la p
lant
s
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45A
pr 2
001
Feb
2002
Oct
200
2
Jun
2003
Feb
2004
Oct
200
4
Oct
/Nov
200
5
May
200
6
Jan/
Feb
2007
Oct
200
7
May
200
8
Feb/
Mar
200
9
Nov
200
9
May
201
0
Feb
2011
Nov
201
1
May
201
2
Mar
ch 2
013
Nov
201
3
May
201
4
May
201
5
Feb/
Mar
201
6
44
28
19
23
17
13
18
22
2928
24
29
5
1215
9121213
810
1210
8
13
9
19
10
6 7 79
4 4 3 4 4
16
31
6 68
6
GMO Trials in Tasmania, 1990s data source: DPIPWE, 2016 et al
Failure: Failure to eradicate Rogue GMOs - 2 decades
20
Canola Grade
MarketingDescription
Specified Characteristics FairDescription
CAN “Non GM Canola”
“Certified GM free to Maximum adventitious presence of 0.9% GMO. Suitable for Human Consumption and Biodiesel production. ISCC EU Certified”.
Canola with GM contamination ⩽0.9%
CAG “Canola” “Suitable for Human Consumption and Biodiesel production. ISCC EU Certified”.
GM Canola
Ghost GMOs in WAafter: Paull, 2019b
Failure: to segregate21
Ghost GMOs in WA canolaPaull, 2019c
Failure: to segregate- ‘acceptable contamination’
“Non GM canola” ≠ GM free canola
⩽0.9% GMO contamination for food & biofuel⩽0.5% GMO contamination for seed
22
GM
Can
ola
WA
%
10%
15%
20%
25%
2014 2015 2016 2017
19%
24%23%
18%
GM canola in WA %data source: Bucat, 2019
Failure: Decline23
Cot
ton
(Hec
tare
s)
0 ha
100,000 ha
200,000 ha
300,000 ha
400,000 ha
500,000 ha
600,000 ha
1996
/97
1997
/98
1998
/99
1999
/00
2000
/01
2001
/02
2002
/03
2003
/04
2004
/05
2005
/06
2006
/07
2007
/08
2008
/09
2009
/10
2010
/11
2011
/12
2012
/13
2013
/14
2014
/15
2015
/16
2016
/17
2017
/18
2018
/19
GMO cotton - Australia data source: Cotton Australia, 2019
Failure: instability24
WA Organic farmers: Steve & Sue Marsh
Failure to protect organic farmers
image: J Paull
25
BaxterGMO900 ha
MarshOrganic
477 ha
Common boundary
GM
canola
GM canola
✗✗
✗✗
✗✗
Author’s graphic after Supreme Court WA, 2015, Marsh v Baxter
non-GM
canola
2010 @ Kojonup, WA
✗
Failure to contain on farm
✗
GMO contamination
27
Failure: socially divisive
image: J Paull
Marsh v Baxter Supreme Court of Western Australia, Perth
28
Failure to compensate GM contamination
Marsh v BaxterDamages=52,000€Legal costs=1,200,000€
Paull, 2015; Martin, 2014; image: J PaullHigh Court of Australia, Canberra
29
Failure: No mechanism to compensate for GMO contamination
Paull, 2019c; EPAC, 2018, Swinbourn, 2019WA Parliamentary Inquiry, 2018-2019
30
Daily Mail, 2019; Davis, 2019; Bellon, 2018; Bender 2018
• 3 recent cases lost by Bayer• 20,000 more plaintiffs
Failure: GMO glyphosate dependency31
Failure: Food as multinational patents versus
Food as commonwealth
BayerMonsanto SyngentaDupontDowBASF
32
Parliament of Australia, 2019
These regulations: * water down the definition of GMOs* have Australia out of harmony with the world* risk damaging Australian food and agriculture
The push to deregulate some GMOs
Failure: Push to deregulate new GMOs & techniques
Vote in the Senate to disallow: 13 November 2019
33
* non native* ability to spread* can do harm:
•environment•economy•health•“the way we live”
Failure: GMOs as invasive species
Paull, 2018
34
www.rightlivelihoodaward.org
“Nature has been moving DNA around for thousands of years … You can’t control it. You can’t put a fence around it and say that’s where it stops” Percy Schmeiser
CBC (2004); image:
35
*Social*Political*Legal *Economic*Agronomic*Ecologic
John PaullUniversity of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
[email protected]@utas.edu.au
The Failures:
Plenary Keynote AddressX International Agriculture Symposium "AGROSYM 2019"3-6 October 2019, Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
36
Questions…
John PaullUniversity of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
[email protected]@utas.edu.au
Plenary Keynote AddressX International Agriculture Symposium "AGROSYM 2019"3-6 October 2019, Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
37
Abstract
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have failed on many levels including: social, political, legal, economic, agronomic and ecologic. After three decades of promotion, promises and contention, 3.8% of global agriculture is GMO agriculture. Only 24 countries grow GMOs commercially. Four countries of North and South America (USA, Canada, Brazil and Argentina) account for 85% of the global GMO hectares. Four crops (soy, corn, cotton and canola) account for 99% of GM hectares. Despite the veneer of social validity that regulators cast, the GMO sector has failed to gain a social licence. Where GM labelling is required, food manufacturers avoid GM ingredients. GMOs have failed to gain price parity with their non-GM counterparts, and they attract price penalties. Segregation of GMOs and non-GMOs has failed (with a tolerance of 0.9% GM contamination in so-called non-GM canola). GM has failed the coexistence test with GMO growers contaminating neighbouring farms. GMOs are a biosecurity fail, with test plots of GM canola planted in the late 1990s still monitored two decades later for rogue canola plants. Most GMO crops are glyphosate dependent. Glyphosate is globally subject to massive litigation claims and awards, and is implicated in the causation of multiple cancers. Mechanisms for compensating farms contaminated by GMOs are lacking, and the GMO industry has taken no responsibility for contaminations. GMOs are a threat to the organic sector and the maintenance of certification and price premiums. Most countries (88%) do not grow GMO crops. This paper considers the global experience of GMOs and the Australian experience as a microcosm of the global experience and as a case study.
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AgrosymTermag HotelJahorinaBosnia and Herzegovina
image: J Paull
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