Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 2/2/2004

**GAIN Report Number:** AU4002

AU4002

**Austria**

**Biotechnology**

**Austrian Observations on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture**

**2004**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Robert H. Curtis

U.S. Embassy, Vienna

**Prepared by:**

Josef Hoppichler

**Report Highlights:**

Following is a summary of the criticisms and questions Austrian
consumers and scientists raise while discussing Biotechnology. This was
translated from an Austrian Power Point presentation. The Austrians are
proud and protective of their mountain agriculture and their organic
crop production. Until we can answer these questions, or sell Biotech
products that provide immediate consumer benefits, the Biotech promotion
issue in Austria, and neighboring countries, will be frustrated. Answers
or replies to any of these observations, official or unofficial, are
welcomed. Biotech opponents believe that the Biotech industry is unable
to adequately respond to these observations.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Vienna \[AU1\]

\[AU\]

**Critical Observations Regarding the Use of Genetic Engineering in
Agriculture and Food**

# By Josef Hoppichler

# Federal Institute for Less-Favored and Mountainous Areas

**Our knowledge of Biotechnology does not even amount to one
pico-percent \...**

DID YOU KNOW \...

-   **\... that all in all, only 10 scientific (peer-reviewed) studies
    have been published on the health effects of GM-food and feed (4
    articles among these publications were published by the group around
    Arpad Pusztai and S. Ewen)?**

> (Pryme I, 2003. In-vivo studies on possible health consequences of
> GM-Food a. Feed, Nutrition and Health, 2003, Vol. 17, pp. 1-8. Despite
> the fact that the world is full of scientific opinions on the
> non-hazardous nature of GM-food, "there is only very limited data on
> the safety of GM-food." (Domingo JL (2000), Health risks of
> genetically modified foods: many opinions but few data, Science, 288,
> 1748-1749)

-   **\... that in many cases, the form of integration of the various
    synthetic genetic constructions as well as their integration
    frequencies into the various different plant genomes are not exactly
    known, and that the stability of integration is more than
    questionable (e.g. jumping genes)?**

> (Mae-Wan Ho, Transgenic Lines Proven Unstable,
> <http://www.i-sis.org.uk/TLPU.php;> Collonier C. et al.,
> Characterization of commercial GMO inserts: a source of useful
> material to study genome fluidity.
> [www.crii-gen.org](http://www.crii-gen.org/))

-   **\... that we do not know the exact composition of the new
    proteins, let alone their folding, and that feeding attempts or
    various allergenicity tests have been carried out on the basis of
    the bacterial proteins only?**

(Cf. e.g. Kawata M., Pacific Ecologist, Nov. 2003:
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0311/SOO113.htm>)

-   **Regarding the evaluation of EU authorization dossiers:
    "Experimental toxicological investigations have only been carried
    out sporadically \.... In none of the cases, potential
    toxicology-relevant effects of the insertion of genes were
    considered \.... In none of the applications (for authorization) was
    the direct examination of the potentially allergenic properties of
    the genetically modified plant and/or the genetically modified plant
    product supported by experiments \...."**

> (SPÖK A., HOFER H., VALENTA R., KIENZL-PLOCHBERGER K., LEHNER P.,
> GAUGITSCH H.: Toxikologie und Allergologie von GVO-Produkten
> (Toxicology and Allergology of GMO-products), Monographien Band 109,
> UBA (Federal Environment Agency), Wien (Vienna) 2002.

-   **\... that particularly in connection with the use of
    herbicide-resistant plants such as the Roundup Ready soybean,
    Roundup has a toxic effect upon sperm in mammals and has a potential
    of damaging the hormone balance?**

> (Yousef MI. et al., J Environ Sci Health B. 1995, July 30(4): 513-34;
> Walsh LP. et al., Roundup inhibits steroidogenesis by disrupting
> steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein expression, Environ
> Health Perspect. 2000, Aug. 108(8): 769-76)

-   **\... that 43 % of children reported by their parents as showing
    severe attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD) had fathers who
    applied "Phosphonamino" herbicide?**

> (Garry VF. et al, Birth Defects, Season of Conception, and Sex of
> Children Born to Pesticide Applicators Living in the Red River Valley
> of Minnesota, USA, Environ Health Perspect. 2002, 110 Suppl. 3:441-9)

-   **\... that analyses of the Danish "Pesticide Leaching Assessment
    Programme" found glyphosate and its degradation products in
    groundwater above the warning concentration of 0.1 µg/l? Denmark has
    thus restricted the application of Roundup.**

**GMOs cannot be contained - coexistence is impossible in small-scale
farming structures!**

DID YOU KNOW \...

-   **\... that in Western Canada, approximately 2.25 million hectares
    of Roundup oilseed rape (Canola) are cultivated randomly in terms of
    geographic distribution, and that on account of the broad
    application of Roundup by way of ploughless cultivation, the entire
    second growth as well as ruderal populations are extremely
    contaminated with GM-oilseed rape, and that double resistances
    (glyphosate, gluphosinate) are not uncommon?**

> (Cf. e.g. R.C. Van Acker et al, GM/non-GM what co-existence in Canada:
> Roundup Ready what as a case study.
> <http://www.agrsci.dk/gmcc-03/gmcc_proceedings.pdf>)

-   **If politics were to establish a threshold of 0.1 % of
    GMO-contamination, coexistence of GM and non-GM cultivation would
    not be possible. The consumer is practically expected to accept a
    constant minimum GMO-share in food of up to 0.09 % percent without
    being aware of it.**

> (Cf. e.g. AEBC (2003), Coexistence and Liability Report,
>
> <http://www.aebc.gov.uk/aebc/coexistence_liability.shtml>)

**The Precautionary Principle:**

-   [Open questions:]{.underline} **Effects upon food: toxicology,
    nutritional physiology, immunology, allergenic potential, endocrine
    effect?**

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-   [Open questions:]{.underline} **Effects upon the environment: e.g.
    outcrossings, non-target organisms?**

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-   [Result:]{.underline} **There is no safe model of prognosis:**

> Scientific opinions are extremely weakly founded, "\... there is **no
> evidence** to indicate that the placing on the market \... **is (not)
> likely to cause adverse effects** on human and animal health and the
> environment."

Even opinions of leading scientific bodies contain mistakes:

The opinion on T25 maize of the EU-SCP, for example, has been corrected:

"\... and the herbicide tolerance trait should not transfer to any other
varieties of cultivated maize" had to be removed, which is why the
opinion was published twice. ("To err is human")

-   [Approaches:]{.underline} Rio Declaration of Principles, CBD,
    Biosafety Protocol, SPS Agreement

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-   Criteria contained also in the EU Treaty (Article 174) - Precaution
    and Prevention:

> In developing its environmental policy, the Community takes into
> account

\- the available scientific and technical data;

\- the environmental conditions of the individual regions of the
Community;

> \- the economic and social development of the Community on the whole
> as well as the balanced development of its regions.
>
> *Further Demands:* proportionate; non-discriminating; harmonized with
> measures previously taken; based on cost-benefit evaluations;
> constantly examined as to the scientific background; clear regulations
> regarding the burden of proof; questions as to reversibility.

-   Backgrounds - other criteria:

> Hormone administration to farm animals, rBST, BSE (mad cow disease),
> \... but also the multi-dimensional structure of European agriculture
> and the multi-functional requirements, i.e. strong overlapping of
> agricultural and living spaces.

**Prospects for non-GM Areas**

-   **Non-GM areas are necessary**

**\*\* in order to link the protection of biodiversity with sustainable
agriculture (no release in nature protection zones; cf. FSE in GB)**

> \*\* in order to provide development areas for organic farming
>
> \*\* in order to make available consolidated areas for non-GM seed
> production
>
> \*\* in order to guarantee a non-GM preservation of plant genetic
> resources
>
> \*\* as balancing and regeneration areas in case of unforeseen
> developments

-   **"Polluter Pays" Principle has to apply to GMO-contamination:**

Letter by Tom Daschle (U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader, November,
2001) in the course of the ITPGR negotiations:

**"Finally, any damages caused to farmers through lower prices, lost
markets or contamination due to genetically modified products should be
reimbursed by the company producing any such product."**