GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Donations
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2013 articles

The science behind Hawaii's GMO Bill 113

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 02 November 2013
Created: 02 November 2013
Last Updated: 02 November 2013
Twitter

Hector Valenzuela, Professor and Crop Specialist at the University of Hawaii, says claims GMOs are both safe and necessary are untrue.

The Science Behind Hawaii's GMO Bill 113
Hector Valenzuela
Huffington Post, 1 November 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hector-valenzuela/the-science-behind-hawaii_b_4159250.html

In the current debate about pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops the Agrochemical industry and its academic supporters claim that a scientific consensus exists about their safety. Proponents also claim that GMOs may be vital for Hawaii farmers in case a new pest threatens the agricultural industry. To make their case, they refer to the so-called success of the GM Rainbow papaya introduced by UH on Hawaii Island on 1998.

The main glitch with statements made about a "consensus" on the safety of pesticides and GM crops, is that the claims are NOT true, and are thus unfounded. UH has also been unable to provide data to back up their claims made about the so-called success of the GM Rainbow papaya. However, the little information that we have available, in terms of industry statistics, points in the other direction: a general industry decline, contamination of non-GMO farms, consumer rejection of the technology, and as yet undisclosed health concerns -- an example that we would certainly not like to emulate with other crops in the state.

Some of the key points that challenge the claims that GM crops are safe, and/or necessary include:

• No scientific consensus exists about the safety of GM crops. A recent statement signed by over 90 international and independent scientists, refutes the existence of a consensus on the safety of GM crops. Some of the points they raise, are listed below.
http://www.ensser.org/increasing-public-information/no-scientific-consensus-on-gmo-safety/

• Statements made by international or scientific bodies about the purported safety of GM crops, carry considerable caveats, including dissent by well-established scientists within these organizations; conflict of interest by organizations that depend on industry or U.S. funding; and the fact that their assessments are based on data provided by industry itself, and not on independent research.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/yes-labels-on-gm-foods

• A close inspection of scientific reviews, references made to lists of "hundreds" of publications, and a citation of a long-term European study, all of which are often cited to claim proof of safety, reveal that these reviews are contradictory -- as many of the cited studies actually show harm, and that many of the cited references are irrelevant to the issue of human health risks.

• The claim that no one has been harmed from consuming GM crops, repeatedly made by industry and by support academics, is false, ludicrous, and irresponsible - as NO epidemiological studies have been conducted on humans to determine the short - and long-term effects from our exposure to GM crops.

• Considerable research has been published in the literature, raising questions about environmental, social, and human health risks, from the production and exposure to GM crops. Despite claims by industry and by support academics that many of these studies have been "discredited", no actual follow-up studies have been conducted to either refute or validate the experimental observations.

• Conflict of interest consistently obfuscates the claims of safety made by industry-affiliated scientists. Academic studies that receive support from industry are less likely to find adverse effects, while research by independent scientists is more likely to uncover adverse impacts. For example, in the case of the industrial chemical bisphenol-A, a review showed that none of the industry-sponsored studies showed adverse effects while 90 percent of over 100 independent studies did show adverse effects from exposure to bisphenol-A. GMO safety studies follow a similar trend.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919210001302

• Claims that new GM varieties are necessary in Hawaii to "save" a crop from future pests are unfounded and undocumented. The only plant disease epidemiologist in Hawaii has stated that conventional farming practices are available to deal with most pest and diseases that farmers may confront, now, and into the future. This statement was recently confirmed by a review of the U.S. experience with GM crops over the past 15 years. According to this review, production practices and the natural genetic diversity available in crops "is sufficient to maintain yields even in the face of most unknown pathogens that might emerge". The authors conclude that "GM crops are not a solution, in part because they are controlled by strict IP instruments".
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14735903.2013.806408

Thus, what farmers need is not pie-in-the-sky promises telling them that commercial silver-bullet products will solve all the problems on their farm.

Rather, what farmers need is concerted government and University support, to develop ecologically-based production systems. A new paradigm of sustainable agroecosystems is required, to meet community food security needs, and to satisfy the growing consumer demand for locally-grown, wholesome, toxic-free, and nutritious fruits and vegetables.
http://www.scidev.net/global/food-security/opinion/agroecology-taps-a-wellspring-of-farming-knowledge.html

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design