GeneWatch UK today slammed the EU's new draft rules for approving genetically modified (GM) insects, fish, farm animals and pets (1). The organisation warned that billions of GM insect eggs and caterpillars would be left in vegetables and fruit if UK company Oxitec's GM moths and flies are approved by the EU under the new rules. Oxitec's GM insects have been genetically engineered so their caterpillars die inside olives or tomatoes or on the leaves of cabbages (2). The company plans to release GM pests across the EU to mate with wild pests in an attempt to reduce their numbers. Millions of GM pests must be released each week to have any effect on wild populations.
The draft guidance, published for consultation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) specifically excludes testing whether GM insects and caterpillars are safe to eat.
"No one will want to eat dead or dying GM caterpillars in their olives or tomatoes" said Dr Helen Wallace "And no one knows whether the GM pests that are still alive will end up in their garden or a local farmer's fields. What EFSA is proposing is a massive gamble with our food supplies and the environment."
GeneWatch UK has written to the EU Commission objecting to the roles of Oxitec and multinational pesticide company Syngenta in drafting the new rules and questioning EFSA's competence to draft guidance on issues that are not within its remit (3). Syngenta has funded Oxitec to develop GM agricultural pests and most of Oxitec's management and Board are ex-Syngenta staff. In its response to the consultation, GeneWatch has highlighted how the companies have distorted the draft guidance to favour approval of GM insects for commercial use.
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