GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD

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GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD

• by
• Mary Figueredo
• Carlos Guzman
• Carmen Huzum
• Agnes Pawelkowska

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What is GM Plant?

• A GM plant contains a gene or genes which have
  been artificially inserted instead of the plant
  acquiring them through pollination.

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GM CROPSSourceColorado State University
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GM Crop ProductionArea by Country
Country Area Planted in 2000 (Millions of Acres) Crops
USA 74.8 Soybean, Corn, Canola and Cotton
Argentina 24.8 Soybean, Corn, and Cotton
Canada 7.4 Soybean, Corn, and Cotton
(Source ISAAA Briefs) (Source ISAAA Briefs) (Source ISAAA Briefs)
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Future Crops Helping the Environment and Food
Supply

• Golden Rice
• Plant Based Vaccines
• Coffee and Tea
• Tobacco
• Improved TurfGrass for Lawns and Recreational
  Areas

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Looking Forward

• What are the issues supporting and opposing GM
  foods?
• What are the positions of the US and Europe?
• Where does the WTO stand on this?
• Proposed solutions to this trade dispute

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Genetically modified crops in the US
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Benefits of biotechnology from the US perspective
(interests groups)

• Benefits for US farmers
• -GM crops offer prospects of reducing input
  costs or making planting more flexible
• -technology allows farmers to reduce their use
  of chemical pesticides (more environment
  friendly practices)
• Benefits for US consumers
• -GM food improves freshness and taste
• -GM food enriches nutrition
• -GM food decreases allergencity and lowers fat
  content
• Benefits for the rest of the world
• -technology holds promise for enhancing
  agricultural productivity and for improving
  nutrition In developing countries
• - distribution problem can be resolved by
  graining GM crops in poor countries (overcome
  the world hunger).

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The US government and the GM products

• George W. Bush and his anti-regulatoryleaning
  (There are no limits on what responsible
  biotechnology can bring to America and the
  world.
• Biotechnology provisions in the 2002 Farm Bill
• -a biotechnology and agricultural trade program
  ,aimed at barriers to the export of the US
  products through biotechnology (section
  3209)
• -competitive grants for biotechnology risk
  assessment research (section 7210)
• -agricultural biotechnology research and and
  development for developing countries (section
  7505)
• -a program of public education on the use of
  biotechnology in producing food for human
  consumption (section 10802)

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The US Regulatory oversight in Biotechnology

• The Agencies primarily responsible for regulating
  biotechnology in the US are
• -the US Department of Agriculture(USDA)
• -Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)
• -the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)
• Products are regulated according to their
  intended use, with some products being regulated
  under more than one agency.
• The guiding principle is that GMF are
  substantially equivalent to conventional foods,
  therefore existing regulations for approving
  foods are appropriate and adequate.
• Labeling with respect to GM content is not
  required in the US, except where there is a
  significant difference between the conventional
  and the GMF.

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Skepticism over GM products

• Europeans oppose GMF (dangers to human health or
  the environment)
• Europeans call GMF- Frankenfood
• EU countries fight against the biotechnology
  process
• Europeans are scare to death of GMF- bad
  experience with contamined food-mad cow disease

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Risks and controversies surrounding GMF

• Safety----- potential human health impact
• ------potential environmental impact
• Access and intellectual property
• - domination of world food production by a few
  companies
• -increasing dependence on industrialized nation
  by developing countries
• Biopiracy---foreign exploitation of natural
  resources
• Ethics-------violation of natural organisms
  intrinsic values
• Society------new advances may be skewed to
  interest to reach countries.

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Current Legislation in the EU on GMOs

• EU legislation on GMOs has been in place since
  1990
• -Directive 90/220/EEC
• -Directive 2001/18/EC
• Procedure for the approval of introducing on the
  market of GMF
• -Member State, Scientific Committees,
  Commission, Council of Ministers
• -public information
• Statistics
• -until 1998 18 GMOs applications have
  authorized in the EU
• 2 cases still not implemented by the Member
  State.
• -since Oct.1998, no further authorization
• European Food Authority- the main organization
  for GMOs approval

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Trade disputes between the EU and the US

• 1998 the EU banned imports of all new GMF
• Precautionary Principle- violation of WTO rules
• High priced food fight between US and EU
  involving GMF
• The US wants to file a case at the WTO against EU
  restrictions over GMF (pressure from US
  agribusiness)

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International Rules for GMOs

• The World Trade Organization (WTO).
• - Food safety, technical barriers to trade,
  and intellectual property rights
  protection.
• The United Nations Biosafety Protocol (BSP).
• - Biodiversity and non-scientific
  concerns.

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The Biosafety Protocol (BSP) Provides that

• An Advanced Informed Agreement (AIA) between
  exporting country and importing country is
  require for living GM organisms.
• An importing country may refuse the GM shipment
  if there are undue risks identified through a
  science-based risk assessment.

• Countries may consider socio-economic factors
  in their reviews.
• A precautionary principlemay be applied to
  block GM imports which could be harmful to
  biological diversity without complete scientific
  certainty.

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WTO Agreements

• The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
  Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
• -Establishes rules and procedures to ensure that
  measures address health concerns.
• The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
  (TBT)
• - Establishes rules and procedures to develop
  standards, technical regulations, and assessment
  procedures
• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects on
  Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
• -Domestic regulatory regimes pertaining to
  intellectual property must provide protection to
  goods produced using biotechnology.

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WTO Agreement Provisions

• Permit national standards or regulations of
  commodities in international trade and the
  adoption or enforcement of measures necessary to
  protect health (Articles XI and XX (b)).
•  
• Require that regulations should be based on the
  WTOs principle of non-discrimination (PND)
  whereby there is a distinction between products
  and processing methods. All like-products are
  to be treated the same regardless of the
  production and processing methods.
• Permit under specific circumstances, countries
  may legitimately violate the PND in order to meet
  domestic concerns or goals.

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Applicable Rules under SPS and TBT
Agreement Exemption from PND Requirements
SPS Health risk -A scientific basis -A risk assessment
TBT Process and Production methods (PPMs) alter final good GM product is no longer like its non-GM counterpart
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Recommendations

• Seek full harmonization, or further cooperation
  and coordination concerning biotechnology and the
  development of labeling regimes aiming at
  achievement of a uniform regulatory framework.
• Try to prevent the capture and capricious use of
  administrative procedures relating to GM crops
  and food products and make this a high priority.
• Pursue a consistent coordinated approach to
  trade-related aspects of intellectual property
  rights. This is also important.
• Use different mechanisms such as regional
  agreements, memoranda of understanding, mutual
  recognition agreements, formal dialogues and
  joint research projects to decrease bilateral
  regulatory barriers to GM food trade.

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Conclusions

• The WTO has no mechanism to allow the imposition
  of trade barriers directly in response to
  consumer or environmental groups asking for
  protection.
• Governments have attempted to use the SPS and TBT
  to justify the imposition of trade barriers but
  GM-foods do not appear to pass either the food
  safety hazard test or the unlike product test
  required to put trade barriers in place in
  violation of the PND.

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Conclusions (cont.)

• The means for dealing with consumer concerns
  (labeling, traceability, and product segregation
  in supply chains) will impose considerable costs
  on exporters.
• Exporters can be expected to resist strict import
  regimes and to have a high degree of interest in
  the type of import regimes and regulations that
  may arise.
• Developing countries feel particularly vulnerable
  given their low level of technical capability in
  the complex areas of food safety, environmental
  sustainability, and supply-chain monitoring.