(Dublin West): Earlier, on behalf of Fine Gael, Deputy Dukes made an intervention that was quite ignorant in the way it attacked opponents of genetic engineering. However, his contribution was inadequate in terms of a major political party outlining a balanced position. In particular, it totally failed to deal with the critical impact of genetic engineering on the environment and the ecosystems of the world which have developed over millions of years.
Monsanto makes plants and crops resistant to their weedkillers which they sell worldwide and also produce millions of acres of genetically engineered crops, which they also sell in the world seed market. Genetic engineering involves taking seeds from separate and disparate species and inserting them in other species with which they have no natural affinity. For example, genes from fish and bacteria are inserted into such varying crops as tomatoes and corn. These seeds are then scattered over millions of acres of land. In the case of the United States, there are tens of millions of acres of genetically modified soya and maize.
The changes are irreparable; the seeds cannot be recalled once they are released. That is totally different to traditional breeding and seed selection methods which have been used by people everywhere to ensure food security and quality. Multinationals want to release radically mutated crops into the environment after a number of years of experimentation under laboratory conditions with no knowledge of what the consequences will be in generations to come. Under different natural conditions they may exhibit characteristics and behaviours which cannot be predicted. This could be potentially catastrophic in terms of crop failure and so on.
The agenda of multinationals is clear. They want to control world seed markets by reducing the number of species and also control the number of varieties of genetically altered crops. That does not just include soya and maize, but, for example, rice production in the Third World. They then want to tie farmers worldwide into their contracts and disallow their right to take the best seeds when harvesting so that they can sow them the following year.
This poses a massive threat to biodiversity globally and also to food security. What if the selected genetically engineered crops experience a catastrophic failure at any time in the future, which is entirely possible? Biodiversity could be so reduced for the main food staples of the world that food production capacity could be devastated. That is dismissed by some as scaremongering, but it is irrefutable. They cannot guarantee that this will not happen. Should we trust multinationals, such as Monsanto, with food quality and security? This company has distinguished itself through the production of agent orange, a poisonous chemical that laid waste to millions of acres of vegetation in Vietnam and continues to poison to innocent children there.
Propaganda by multinationals that genetic engineering of food will feed the world is bogus. Hunger and malnutrition come not from the lack of capacity to produce food but from the ruthless control of food markets by capitalist companies for profits. The genetic engineering of animals to increase the amount of food they yield, which is also going on apace, is unethical, involves severe cruelty and also has unknown health risks. A number of instances demonstrate the dangers involved. An experiment was conducted to put an extra growth hormone gene into salmon. One group of offspring hatched from transgenic parents developed deformed heads and various degrees of discoloration which led to reduced viability according to a 1994 report. Pigs were treated with a sheep growth hormone activated by zinc in the diet. One pig produced a twenty fold increase in growth hormone levels and it died as a result of acute gastric haemorrhage due to ulceration when the zinc was withdrawn. I am indebted to Compassion in World Farming for bringing those proven examples to my attention.
Labelling is absolutely critical. While I want an end to genetic engineering in the wild and want GMOs off supermarket shelves, we must at least demand labelling. The current labelling legislation is a joke. A typical pack of Bacon Fries contains both maize and soya protein but the fact that it is genetically modified is written in such small type, one would need a magnifying glass. Radical changes are needed in this area.
Genetic Concern took up an excellent initiative to conduct independent research on people's concerns about genetic engineering. It showed clearly that a huge majority of people want information and are massively concerned about the current situation. Fianna Fáil and the Government have adopted an entirely cowardly, and utterly opportunist, approach in this regard. Fianna Fáil correctly stated prior to the last general election that companies involved in the development of genetic engineering were treating populations like guinea pigs. The party started to retreat from this position after the general election and that retreat has since turned into a rout as Fianna Fáil trots out EU regulations. Where the health of our people and the security of our ecosystems are at stake, no regulation must stand in the way of people resisting the threat which exists. The United States is attempting to bully the EU to allow unlabelled genetically engineered produce into Europe. We must have the guts to stand up to them to ensure the security of our ecosystems, the safety of our food supply and the health of our people. That must come first.
