Titel:GREENPEACE
HITS UNDP REPORT FOR BLIND GENETIC ENGINEERING BIAS |
GREENPEACE HITS UNDP REPORT FOR London/Manila/Mexico City 10th July, 2001 -Greenpeace today deplored
the ill-advised pro-biotech prescriptions of the newly released Human
Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
stressing that the report presents as facts the unsubstantiated promises "While the report in general follows the UNDPs highly respected tradition of providing hard facts and a critical view on major development issues, its assessment of Agricultural Biotechnology suspiciously reads as if it had been written by a Public Relations agency to promote genetically modified organisms," said Von Hernandez, Campaign Director for Greenpeace in Southeast Asia. The UNDP report claims that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) would
increase yields and nutritional properties and provide solutions for complex
agricultural challenges such as pest control and drought. "The UNDP of all agencies should know that complex problems of hunger and agricultural development will not be solved by technological silver bullets. The real crisis is the obvious neglect of research and investment in the further development and spread of sustainable and ecological agriculture technologies," added Hernandez. Support for agriculture has decreased dramatically during the last ten
years. Overall technical co-operation in the field of agriculture, forestry
and fisheries from all OECD donor countries has been halved from more
than 7 billion US Dollars in 1989 to less 3 billion in 1999. "For UNDP to promote GMOs in developing countries as a solution after giving up any substantial role in supporting agricultural development is extremely hypocritical and does not help the credibility of UNDP in any way. Instead of naively advocating the export of ill-devised and unsafe GE technology in the South, agencies like the UNDP should concentrate on the dissemination and promotion of proven and sustainable methods to improve agricultural practices," added Hernandez. (2) Furthermore, the reports approach to the environmental risks associated with the release of GMOs into the environment and to their potential health risks can only be described as frivolous. There is general agreement that especially long-term environmental risks of GMOs cannot be assessed by present scientific means and that a lot of additional research would be needed to even properly assess the food safety of such varieties. (3) "The reality is that GMOs are facing increased resistance in all
industrialised countries and the global agrochemical and GE companies
are dumping these questionable technologies on developing countries. To
claim that the growing concern in the South was exported by Northern Greenpeace fully supports access to new technologies for developing countries,
including those of biotechnology (4). Developing countries must urgently
be in a position to identify GMOs imported into their territories and
should be enabled to device their own and proper approach to apply new
insights from molecular biology. The most promising applications of these
technologies do not require risky "The Northern Industry hype about GMOs will not feed the world but could put entire ecosystems at risk thereby posing greater threats to global food security," concluded Hernandez For more information: In Mexico City, Raul Benet, Executive Director of Greenpeace Mexico, Greenpeace International Press Office, Teresa Merilainen, Tel: More information on http://www.greenpeace.org Notes to the editors: (1) OECD Development Assistance Committee, , 2001 Official Commitments (2) A study commissioned to Prof. Jules Pretty by Greenpeace Germany
and A recent case of contamination of food with a potentially allergenic (4 ) The single most important obstacle to proper access to these
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