Spain makes transgenic crop producers pay into insurance fund [BARCELONA]
The Spanish government has decided that companies that produce or plant
genetically modified crops must contribute to a 90 million Euro (US$100
million) insurance fund intended to cover environmental accidents. The move
reflects growing calls for tougher restrictions on such crops from
opposition political parties, non-governmental organizations, and
consumers' associations.
As a result of this pressure, the government's approach to transgenic crops
will be debated in parliament this week after two left-wing parties
expressed concern that Spain has authorized the planting of genetically
modified crops that have not yet been approved in other countries of the
European Community.
Environmental issues have become more controversial in Spain since last
year's ecological disaster, when thousands of tons of toxic waste spilled
into the Dońana national park last April after a retaining wall collapsed
at the Aznalcóllar mines in Seville. One party, the Bloque Nacionalista
Gallego, is seeking either a moratorium or a strict limit on the import of
such crops. The movement Ecologists in Action, which includes more than 300
environment-related organizations, has called for a ban on the 22
experimental field trials by the company Monsanto that have already been
approved by the country's biosafety commission.
Concern has been triggered by the high importation of modified crops,
especially maize and soya. Between 15,000 and 20,000 hectares are said to
have already been planted with such maize from the company Novartis. The
number of licences for test plantings has increased from 36 in 1996 to 124
by January of this year.
Transgenic foodstuffs became an issue in Spain in 1996, when seven
Greenpeace activists held a protest in Barcelona against a boat containing
45,000 tons of soya, 2 per cent of which was genetically modified. Cristina
Narbona, the environment-commission spokesperson of the socialist party
PSOE, has urged the government to support demands being made at the
biodiversity protocol meeting in Colombia to base the protocol on the
so-called "precautionary principle". Xavier Bosch
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Flavio Luiz Schieck Valente
Global Secretariat
Global Forum on Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security
c/o Agora - Associacao para Projetos de Combate a Fome
SGAN 905 Conjunto B
70790-050. Brasilia. DF Brasil
tel +55 61 347 4914
fax +55 61 274 8822
347 9002
cel + 55 61 972 1455
e-mail agora@tba.com.br
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On Another Front:
INDEPENDENT (London) March 12
Land planted with GM crops may fall
in value
By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor
Surveyors warned yesterday that farmers who plant genetically modified
(GM) crops could see their land values fall, and that tenants of such land
might face bills to make up the shortfall.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) called for the creation
of a land register through which potential buyers, and banks, could find
out if and when GM crops had been planted or grown on a particular
holding.
In a separate move, the Government announced that the independent advisory
group on planting of GM crops will investigate the effects on British
wildlife and biodiversity of commercial growing.
Lord Whitty, the environment minister, said that the remit of the Advisory
Committee on Releases to the Environment (Acre) has been expanded, and a
subgroup set up to examine biodiversity issues. "With these regulations in
force, British wildlife species should be protected against effects from
the commercial use of GM crops," he said in a Lords' written reply.
However, the RICS report, sent to the Government's Office of Science and
Technology and other departments, warned that growing such crops might
lower the value of the land. In the case of tenant farmers, a landlord
could, in effect, sue for any shortfall in land value caused by the tenant
growing GM crops.
Michael Chambers, director of the RICS's policy unit, said that if
commercial growing goes ahead, it would require a permanent register of
sites where GM crops were or had been. "It's very hard to see how it could
be controlled once you grow on a widespread scale in the countryside," he
added.
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