URFIG-supported Document about China
Chinese Experience Shows Adverse Environmental Impacts
of
Genetically
Beijing/London, 3 June, 2002 - A Greenpeace report reviewing Chinese
experience of genetically engineered (GE) Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton
shows adverse environmental impacts after just five years of commercial
growing, concluding that the variety will be ineffective in controlling
pests after eight to ten years
of continuous production. (1)
Laboratory tests and field monitoring conducted by four Chinese state-owned
science institutes (2) verify a resistance build-up towards Bt in the main
target pest, cotton bollworm, a significant reduction of the parasitic
natural enemies, and an increase of secondary pests. These factors have
forced farmers to continue the use of chemical pesticides, and increased the
possibility of outbreaks of certain pests due to the destabilized insect
community.
The author of the study, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of
Environmental Sciences, and an advisor for Greenpeace, Professor Xue Dayuan,
said: "The report confirms that the Bt cotton is released to the environment
prematurely. After five years of growing, Chinese farmers and scientists are
now faced with serious problems and confronted with the fact that too little
is known about the interaction of GE crops with the environment. High hopes
have been brought crashing down and reality shows that the information from
the GE industry has been
unsubstantiated."
Bt cotton, a genetically engineered variety inserted with a gene from soil
bacteria to produce a toxin that kills certain types of pests, was first
introduced to China in 1997 by Monsanto. It was advertised as a magical fix
to pest problems. Since then the area of cultivation has increased to 1.5
million hectares in 2001, which is 35% of the total cotton area. Monsanto's
Bt cotton accounts for two
third of all GE cotton grown in China.
According to the report titled "A Summary of Research on the Environmental
Impacts of Bt-cotton in China", laboratory tests for selection of
Bt-resistant bollworm indicated that susceptibility of bollworm to the Bt
toxin fell to 30% after 17 generations under continuous feeding with Bt
cotton leaves. The resistance of the bollworm increased 1000 times when the
feeding was continued to the 40th generation. Moreover, the population of
parasitic natural enemies of cotton bollworm was reduced significantly in Bt
cotton fields. Secondary pests, such as cotton aphids, cotton spider mites,
thrips and others, replaced the cotton bollworm as primary pests in some of
the cotton fields. In addition, the resistance of Bt cotton to cotton
bollworm decreases over time.
"As farmers growing this GE crop are now finding themselves entangled in
Bt-resistant superbugs, emerging secondary pests, diminishing natural
enemies, destabilized insect ecology, and the need to keep spraying chemical
pesticides to deal with the increasingly uncontrollable situation, will
Monsanto deal with any of these problems their lack of precaution have
caused?" asked Lo Sze
Ping, Greenpeace China Program Manager.
"The
Chinese Government has a role in helping the international community to
ensure
that corporations such as Monsanto are held liable for the damage
they
are causing by having developed and released GE crops," Lo added.
For more information: Lo Sze Ping, Mainland Program Manager, Greenpeace
China, Mob: +86-13691291871; +852-90430966; Luisa Tam, Press Office,
Greenpeace China, Mob: +852-90967101; Teresa Merilainen, Greenpeace
International Press Office, Tel: +31205236637
(1) The study available from
Greenpeace web site http:///www.greenpeace.org
(2) The report reviewed the research data of four state institutes:
Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(CAAS), Cotton Research Institute of CAAS, Department of Plant Protection,
China Agricultural University, and Department of Plant Protection, Nanjing
Agricultural University.