Genk, 17/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The former Belgian Agriculture Minister, Jaak Gabriels, the initiator of the debate on biotechnology scheduled for this Tuesday's informal Agriculture Council, has told EUROPE that he hoped the EU would commit itself to making greater investment in research into genetically modified plants and producing energy from biomass. He felt it was regrettable that the EU (unlike the United States, or more particularly Argentina and Canada) had deliberately refused to exploit the commercial potential of biotechnology applications in agriculture since the moratorium on the authorisations for marketing and spreading GMOs in the environment. He maintained that the European Parliament would be prepared to request that the moratorium be lifted, as long as harmonised rules ensuring the traceability of food containing GMOs were put in place (which is what the European Commission hopes to do with its new proposals, see EUROPE of 27 July, p.5). Mr Gabriels also hoped that this debate would be an opportunity to provide public opinion with reliable data (by which he means scientific data) to challenge the information campaigns organised in the 1980s by "influential groups". He said that all the Ministers agreed that it was important to extend the generation of "green electricity", explaining that in order to do this, farmers had to be subsidised (as already happens in Belgium) for the extra costs involved in generating electricity from biomass.
The discussion between the EU15 Agriculture Ministers should begin around 10h30 after five scientists representing the five continents have addressed the ministers. At this point, Mr Gabriels will leave the current Belgian Agriculture Minister, Annemie Neyts, to exercise her role of Council President alone, while he reports to the press on the content of the speeches delivered by the experts. While insisting on the need for and the safety of genetically modified foodstuffs, Chinese Professor Zhang-Liang Chen, from the national laboratory for protein engineering and plant genetics (Beijing University), is expected to recall that, in 1998, China marketed genetically engineered plants, mainly Bt cotton resistant to insects as well as varieties of virus-resistant sweet pepper and tomatoes. The putting into circulation of such products was, however, slowed down because of the debate on environmental issues and food safety raised by genetically modified crops. China has therefore not given the go-ahead for the marketing of any genetically modified plant variety belonging to the main food crops, such as rice, corn, maize and soya. African Professor John Monyo, from FAO, believes rapid and highly significant progress has been made in the application of modern biotechnology to food crops and forests (techniques for plant reproduction, diagnosis concerning parasites and diseases, the creation of GM plants with increased output and better resistance to diseases, and recourse to genetic maps and identification, the genome and information technology in genetic selection). In his view, 24% of genetically modified plants grown, such as soya, maize, colza and cotton, are located in developing countries. He is expected to stress that, among the countries opposed to genetically modified crops, there are mainly "those where one has never had to fall asleep with an empty stomach". "One has not to refuse developing countries the possibilities offered by biotechnology and genetic engineering (better crop tolerance to drought, salinity, and low soil fertility), we read in his planned speech. Karen Dodds, Director General of the Directorate General for health food products of Canada and whose country is playing an important role in aligning at world level assessment methods of the harmfulness of foods to emerge from biotechnology, will explain that since 1994, 50 genetically modified plant products (wheat, soja, potatoes) have passed all the stages of the national regulatory procedure. British Professor Philip Dale of the John Innes Centre (Norwich, UK), who should be placing emphasis on the environmental consequences of genetically modified crops, will brief ministers on an experiment currently underway in the United Kingdom, which consists in comparing the indirect effects of three genetically modified plant rendered tolerant to certain herbicides. "Genetically modified crops could attenuate or aggravate the agricultural impact on the environment. They will aggravate it if they make farming move towards mono-culture. They could reduce the harmful effects thanks to a targeted control of parasites, diseases and weeds and if genetically modified crops are integrated in health farming practices, that play in favour of natural life and soil fertility on farmland. We cannot for that rely on market forces", he should add. Finally, Paul Dymock, Oceania representative will place emphasis on the potential, limits and promotion of the biomass produced from wood, beet, wheat and sorgho.