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Hawaiian farmers warn Thai farmers about genetically  engineered papaya: Don't do  it!
See also The Scent of GE Papaya - story and photos from Greenpeace

Thu 03 July 2003, Bangkok,  THAILAND

A delegation of Hawaiian  farmers today met with Thai  farmers and community  organisations warning  Thailand against growing  genetically engineered (GE)  papaya. In an event  organised by Greenpeace,  the Hawaiian farmers  pointed out that although the  previous introduction of GE  papaya had been disastrous  both economically and  environmentally, old  promotional arguments are  now used in Thailand without  sharing the negative  evidence.

When GE papaya was  introduced 5 years ago they  claimed it was a 'solution' to  the papaya ringspot virus  problem. But instead it has  caused serious  environmental and economic  problems for farmers," said  Melanie Bondera, a  sustainable agriculture  farmer and member of the  Hawaii Genetic Engineering  Action Network (HIGEAN) on  Big Island, Hawaii.

The rejection of GE papaya in  overseas markets has been  devastating for Hawaiian  farmers. The selling price of  GE papaya has fallen to  30-40 percent below  production costs, and the  price that farmers get for their  GE papaya is 600 percent  lower than the price for  organic papaya.   Farmers have also  discovered that 'SunUp' GE  papaya is more easily  infected by new plant fungi  and diseases like 'blackspot'  fungus. This discovery came  5 years after GE papaya was  approved for commercial  growing. Now farmers must  spray toxic chemical  fungicides on their SunUp  papaya plants every 10 days.

Bondera described the anger  and frustration of organic  farmers who were forced to  cut down all of their papaya  plants because of  contamination by GE papaya.  GE papaya seed has  contaminated seed supplies  and cross-pollination of  non-GE plants is  widespread.   "Tests have shown that GE  contamination is  widespread. Genetic  pollution is a clear violation of  farmers' rights to choose  what they grow and how they  grow it," she added.

While GE papaya was  proving a disaster in Hawaii,  the same US scientists and  companies worked with  Thailand's Department of  Agriculture and the  Department of Science &  Technology to develop GE  papaya in Thailand. Backed  by the global GE industry  giant, Monsanto, which holds  several patents on GE  papaya, open-air field trials of  GE papaya were carried out  in several locations  throughout Thailand. Now  these corporate-sponsored  scientists say that GE papaya  is 'safe' and is ready for  commercial growing by  farmers.    "The developers of GE  papaya are saying that it's  ready for commercial release  in Thailand. But the message  from Hawaii is very clear: GE  papaya is an ecological  disaster," said Varoonvarn  Svansopakul, Genetic  Engineering Campaigner for  Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

The consequences of  growing GE papaya in  Thailand are feared to be  even more serious Hawaii.  Not only is green papaya  eaten as a daily staple food,  it is also grown everywhere -  in farmers' fields,  schoolyards and backyard  gardens.    "That means the kind of GE  contamination seen in  Hawaii will be multiplied a  hundred-fold, and there's no  way that seed contamination  or cross-pollination can be  prevented," Varoonvarn  added.   These concerns were  reinforced by Dr.Janet Cotter,  Greenpeace scientist in the  United Kingdom. Speaking at  today's public event, Dr Cotter  presented the findings of a  scientific report on the  potential ecological and  health risks of GE papaya.    "Even those scientists who  developed GE papaya  recognise that GE  contamination of non-GE  papaya is inevitable. Once it's  out there, it's out of control,"  said Dr Cotter. "The fact is  that GE is a crude and  imprecise technology,  subject to unexpected and  unpredictable effects. In the  case of GE papaya scientists  aren't even sure why it has  resistance to the ringspot  virus, or whether this creates  new ecological risks. This  includes the risk of new  strains of the virus that would  have a lasting impact on the  environment."

Also addressing Thai  farmers and community  organisations was Jon  Biloon, a farmer with 30  years' experience of  sustainable agricultural  farming in Big Island, Hawaii.  Biloon argues that GE  papaya is unnecessary.    "There are practical solutions  to ringspot virus that are  friendly to the environment  and better for farmers. This  makes GE papaya totally  unnecessary," Biloon said.  Biloon has developed an  organic system to deal with  ringspot virus and is  organising training  workshops and helping other  farmers to introduce  ecologically sustainable  methods for managing plant  diseases like ringspot.

"The message that the  Hawaiian farmers bring to us  today is clear: we must not  allow GE papaya to be  released into the  environment. It's not too late.  We must act now to say no to  GE papaya," Varoonvarn  concluded.

The May 26, 2003 issue of Time expands the vocabulary of genetic engineering. The article, "Cures on the Cob," portrays developments in the lucrative U.S. biotech industry. A few years back, "Frankenfoods" was coined to describe fears of consumer advocates regarding genetically engineered foods sprouting like hundreds of Frankenstein monsters. Time has introduced mainstream readers to more current jargon: pharm crops, biopharmers, molecular farming, pharmacorn, and Pharmageddon.

Time reports biotech firms like Epicyte Pharmaceutical of San Diego are growing "pharm crops" (food crops with genetically-implanted drugs) with hopes of creating new drugs for awful diseases. In this way, they expect to overcome the health and safety concerns of environmentalists, consumer groups, and anxious food purveyors.

For commentary and text of the article, see http://www.thecampaign.org, the web site of The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods.
 

NEWS ARCHIVE

NEWSFLASH -
Protest Rally Held Against Genetic Violations on Kauai
Experts and Citizens Demonstrate in Response to Recent EPA Fines of Pioneer/DuPont    

Lihue, Kauai--This morning, concerned citizens joined with scientific and legal experts to protest the repeated violations of federal regulations committed by Pioneer/DuPont in genetic engineering field trials on Kauai.  Speakers warned of the hazards that genetic tests pose to the economy, environment, and public health of the citizens of Kauai.  In the wake of the recent fines, they called on DuPont to publicly disclose what genetic crops are being tested on the island and where they are being grown.  They also called for meaningful safety testing to prove that these genetic experiments are safe for the citizens and environment of Kauai.

"Genetic engineering companies tell us that their experiments are safe and that we should just take their word for it," said Noli Hoye, spokesperson for GMO-Free Kauai, the citizen group that sponsored the event.  "But I ask them, how can we believe you when you will not follow the regulations that the government imposes on you?  How can we believe you when you will not tell us the most basic information about what you are testing on our island?"

"We can no longer take DuPont’s word when they tell us that these experiments are safe," said Steven Druker, executive director of the Alliance for Biointegrity who is currently on Kauai in response to the recent EPA fines.  "It‘s time for solid, substantiated facts rather than grandiose, unfounded claims."

The Environmental Protection Agency fined Pioneer Hi-Bred, a subsidiary of DuPont, in December of last year for planting experimental corn not approved for human consumption too close to a seed crop.  The EPA then required the company to conduct further tests and to promptly notify them of any contamination in neighboring crops.  They were also required to submit maps to the EPA identifying the location of any tainted plants within five days.  DuPont failed to meet these requirements and was fined $72,000, the highest fine ever levied by the EPA in their regulation of genetic engineering field tests.

Louisa Wooten, an organic farmer from Kauai who serves on the Certification Board of the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association, explained the threat to organic agriculture highlighted by the fines.  "Because these trials are conducted in the open air, we knew there was a chance of cross-pollination," said Wooten.  "With the recent EPA fines, we know for certain that cross pollination is happening.  Despite the fact that contamination by GMOs could lose an organic farmer their certification, we still have no right to know if our fields are at risk of being contaminated." 

Roger van Stelle, a molecular biologist and medical doctor who lives on Kauai, explained the health risks of genetic field trials on
Kauai.  He cited studies in which animals that were fed genetically engineered foods suffered abnormal pregnancies, damage to immune systems, and injury to vital organs.  "If these were pharmaceutical drugs undergoing test trials, they would be thrown in
the trash.  It would be malpractice if I prescribed anything with these kinds of toxic side effects," said van Stelle.

In the citizen list of demands presented by GMO-Free Kauai, the group called for DuPont to do two things: "Give us the right to know what you are growing on our island and where, and show us meaningful tests that can prove these crops are safe for our health and our environment.  Particularly after these fines by the EPA, it is clear that we need the facts about the genetic experiments that you are conducting on Kauai."

The state of Hawaii currently has more genetic field trials per acre than any other place in the world. 
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GMO-Free Kauai is a volunteer citizen group that works to raise awareness and educate the public about the health, economic, and environmental risks of genetically engineered organisms, while providing meaningful ways to work towards creating a GMO-Free Kauai.  For more information, go to www.gmofreekauai.org , call GMO-Free Kauai at (808)651-9603, or email gmofreekauai@care2.com mailto:gmofreekauai@care2.com.
Photos available.