I am honoured to be here, particularly because my grandfather was among the founders of the first Dáil. It is a nice feeling to be back.
I am speaking on behalf of GM-free Ireland Network, an association of 20,000 farmers, food producers and consumers engaged in consultations with the Department of Agriculture and Food on the national strategy for the so-called co-existence of GM crops with conventional organic farming. The stakeholders I represent see Ireland's GM free status as a national asset which can provide low cost premiums for food exports and animal feed production in the European market. It can create more jobs and revitalise rural communities as well as conserve our cultural biodiversity, an important strategic direction to bear in mind. Maintaining our GM free status will in the near future position Ireland as a sustainable agriculture leader.
We believe Ireland's GM policy in general and the upcoming votes between now and the end of the year, including this one on Monsanto's GT oilseed rape, are matters of national security. GMOs released into the environment, including this oilseed rape which is a living seed, can never be recalled once allowed in. Any decision to allow the environmental release of patented GMOs on this island, north and south of the Border, would rob farmers of the right to plant their own seeds because the seeds would be patented; have irreversible impacts on farm income, food exports, bio-diversity, food safety, public health and consumer choice, and compromise Ireland's renowned image as Europe's clean green food island.
We should bear in mind that the market in Europe is going against the GM trend. In the briefing document which members of the committee have received they will find, inter alia, a list of the leading major food brands in Europe which refuse to include GM ingredients, as well as the leading retailers. They include major food brands such as Coca-Cola, Heinz, Campbell, Tesco, Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer etc. Consumers do not want products with such ingredients and the brands mentioned are refusing to include them, as are retailers. In this context, the European Joint Research Centre admits that the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops would be difficult and expensive.
National governments and regional and local authorities throughout the European Union have established thousands of GM free regions in 22 member states. Furthermore, the European Association of Regions recently launched a political campaign for new legislation in Brussels that would clearly recognise the right of local governments to ban crops, as is now the case in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom where Wales and Cornwall are already GM free.
Many European observers, as well as members of our network in Ireland, are absolutely baffled by the Government's pro-GM voting record, by the various GM crop approvals the former Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, Mr. David Byrne, issued in Brussels and by the ongoing denial of the scientific evidence of GM risks, some of which is included in the document circulated. Government sovereignty derives from the duty to protect its citizens. If the Government places the vested interests of biotechnology corporations or the US Government above the interests of its citizens, it loses sovereignty and the people will vote for another administration.
There is a vote on 29 November when Ireland will be asked to vote against GMO bans and restrictions which Austria, France, Greece and other countries have put in place. On 10 December there will be a vote on Monsanto's GT rape seed. A deadline has been set by the Department of Agriculture and Food of 31 December by which stakeholders in Ireland must complete their submissions on the so-called co-existence of GM and conventional crops. As I had to prepare this briefing with one week's notice, I have put most of information in a brochure which the committee has received.
My final point is that genetic engineering marks a watershed in the evolution of life on earth. If we choose to allow GT73 oilseed rape into the country, we will never be able to rid ourselves of it. It is clear policymakers in the Government, the private sector, the food industry and civil society need more knowledge and time to fully grasp the inter-related biological, agronomic, social, political, legal, health and security implications of this choice. There is a low level of public awareness on these issues compared to other EU countries. Many Irish politicians, regulatory authorities, civil servants and farmers still believe there is no evidence of either a health or environmental risk from these dangerous products.
The Government wants to do its best for farmers. It seems to us the promise GM technologies made ten years ago sounded credible at the time. However, the new scientific evidence and the consensus of all the major non-governmental organisations, including the independent science panel on GM crops, the members of which are top professors from universities around the world, strongly indicate we should not opt for this technology which is inherently dangerous for a variety of reasons which I have gone into in some detail.
One of the main problems is contamination. I would like members of the committee to consider an interview included in the brochure with Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was growing oilseed rape for 50 years. His crop was contaminated by a neighbour and he was sued by Monsanto which wanted the profit from all his crops, a licensing fee for using its crops and €1 million in court costs. There were hundreds of lawsuits by Monsanto against farmers whose crops had been contaminated. That is what would happen in Ireland.
I ask members of the committee to ask the Government not to place GT73 oilseed rape on the market for a number of reasons, the first being that although it is intended as animal feed, it would most likely be imported in the form of living GMOs, prior to being crushed or otherwise processed. It is certain that spillage of seeds would occur in shipping through harbours, road transportation, storage and eventual distribution to farms. This seed dispersal is guaranteed to result in millions of oilseed rape plants proliferating throughout the countryside in a matter of years. This will in turn rapidly contaminate conventional oilseed rape and other brassica relatives with their trans-genes and will also result in herbicide tolerant super-weeds.
I urge the Government to consider that the time has come for a proper democratic national consultation process, including an expert conference on these issues, to enable all stakeholders to evaluate the relevant information, to think about the economic impacts, to exchange views among its members, to consult independent experts and to shape a final national GM policy for Ireland according to the principles of participatory democracy which are legally required by the biosafety protocol and the Aarhus Convention. The time has come for the Government to rethink its obsession with GM crops and to forge a coherent strategy to give Irish farmers and consumers the right to choose a sustainable future. Future generations will hold the Government accountable for these decisions.