GMOs on rise globally but declining in Europe

By Luc Vernet | Wednesday 24 February 2010

Europolitics

Surface areas planted with GMO crops declined in the European Union in 2009, while simultaneously showing a 7% increase worldwide compared with 2008.

The global biotechnology industry, represented by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), announced, on 23 February, that 134 million hectares of GMO crops had been planted worldwide in 2009 in 25 countries. This corresponds to a 7% increase over 2008. In Europe, however, biotechnologies declined: 94,750 ha of Mon 810 maize were planted in 2009, compared with 107,719 ha the previous year. Only six countries grew such crops, mainly Spain, which accounts for 80% of Mon 810 maize planted in the EU. The other member states using transgenics are Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

High-tech seed is banned from fields in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Greece, Hungary and France due to doubts about its impact on the environment. Organisations opposed to GMOs, such as Greenpeace and Les Amis de la Terre, point out that GMOs are even on the decline in European countries traditionally in favour of their use, ie Romania (-47% to 3,243 ha in 2009), Czech Republic (-23% to 6,480 ha), Slovakia (-55% to 875 ha) and even Spain (-4% to 76,057 ha).

Elsewhere in the world, the main users of GMOs are the United States (64 million hectares), Brazil (21.4 million) and Argentina (21.3 million). Next come India (8.4 million), Canada (8.2 million), China (3.7 million), Paraguay (2.2 million) and South Africa (2.1 million). All the other countries are well below the level of one million hectares.

The industry considers that, by 2015, there will be more than 200 million hectares of GMO crops planted worldwide. To reach that level, it is counting first of all on the introduction, promised for years, of seedlings that are more resistant to episodes of drought. Drought-resistant maize could be introduced in the United States in 2012, before being introduced in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2017, reports the ISAAA.

In China, which is already the sixth largest producer of GMOs, the introduction of rice that is more resistant to insect attacks should “give impetus” and allow this crop to be grown in other developing countries, notes the organisation.

Environmental organisations (Greenpeace and Les Amis de la Terre) challenge this outlook. “Presented as a solution to climate change and to famine, more than 99% of GMOs planted are in fact used for animal feed and the production of fuel,” denounce the organisations.

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