Green biotechnology offers great prospects for developing countries.
An international workshop of the Union of the German Academies
has compiled an independent testimony.

The discussion on green biotechnology should not be based on ideological beliefs but solely on scientifically proven facts. This claim was the outcome of an international workshop which took place from May 26-27 2006 in Berlin at the invitation of the Union of the German Academies on behalf of the “Intercademy Panel” (IAP). A draft of a statement was prepared on the importance of genetically modified crop plants for developing countries. This document wilI be presented to the IAP to be issued as a statement on international science at the general assembly of the IAP in December this year in Cairo , provided that the majority of the 92 worldwide member academies of the IAP have endorsed this statement.

The delegates from China , Egypt , the USA and Europe agreed in the preliminary draft on the following main points.

1.         Foods from approved GM crops are safe for humans and animals;

2.         Approved GM crops do not pose environmental hazards;

3.         Small farmers, not just large corporations, profit from the adoption of GM crops, so contributing to the alleviation of poverty;

4.         GM crops pose no irresolvable conflict with organic farming;

5.         GM crops can make a major contribution to the quantity and quality of food in the world;

6.         Freedom of choice should apply to all farmers and consumers, not just to some of them.

On the basis of a wealth of experimental evidence with genetically modified crop plants worldwide, the delegates call on governments and non-government organisations to end their campaigns against GM crops. Genetically modified plants are not per se good or bad, and their use must be weighed up from case to case.

 “Much would be won, if citizens and politicians would demand scientifically proven evidence for each claim made about green biotechnology” said Prof. Dr. Klaus Amman, Prof. emerit. for Systematic Botany and Geobotany at the University of Bern .  “Most of the myths spread by some conservationist organisations have been refuted years ago”.

Prof. Dr. Hans Walter Heldt, the chairman of the Commission Green Biotechnology, of the Union of German Academies pointed out that the sceptical position of the Europeans has a negative effect on developing countries. “Europe plays an exemplary role. The fact that it may not be possible to sell products in Europe discourages many farmers and governments of developing countries from using the new technology”. This is unfortunate since green biotechnology offers great prospects especially for developing countries: Varieties have been generated which are less susceptible to drought and can be grown on salty soils. Thus in future, areas could be used for cultivation which until now are useless for agriculture. Local varieties could be altered in such a way that they contain more nutritients and vitamins to combat nutritional deficiency.

Despite their higher seed price, the genetically modified varieties sold nowadays are mostly advantageous for the farmers because the yields are higher, and due to their resistance to feeding insects, viruses and fungi, the spraying of pesticides, of which most are toxic to humans, can be reduced by up to 70%. This is well illustrated by fact that about 90% of the 8.5 million farmers using green biotechnology world wide in 21 countries belongs to the third world. The Chinese participants at the workshop reported that cotton, a major crop in their country, is grown by farmers with an average holding of 0.4 ha. 70% of these small hold farmers have now adopted genetically modified insect resistant cotton, which has led to a substantial increase of their income and improved their health.

Amman contradicted fervently the assumption that only the large western firms profit from the growth of genetically modified plants in the developing countries. 85% of the investments in green biotechnology in developing countries are now financed through public funds, the share of the large multi-national company’s amounts to only 1%. Industry is asked to contribute its technology only to a small extent to the large projects now in progress, under the provision that the small hold farmers are exempt from licence fees.

The workshop in Berlin is part of the IAP initiative to evaluate the usefulness of genetically modified plants. For some time the Union of the German Academies has been engaged on behalf of the IAP in giving the public scientifically based advice on aspects of green biotechnology. It published in 2004 a report about the safety of food from genetically modified plants of which several thousand copies have been distributed and these are still in demand. This report can be found on the website of the Union of the German Academies:

http://www.akademienunion.de/_files/memorandum_gentechnik/memorandum_gruene_gentechnik.pdf

Moreover, Prof, Dr. Hans Walter Heldt, chairman of the Commission Green Biotechnology of the Union of the German Academies has compiled a literature base on genetically modified plants containing 240 publications to be found
under www.akademienunion.de/publikationen/literatursammlung_gentechnik.

Selected peer reviewed publications which substantiate the statements above:

Cohen, J.I. (2005): Poorer nations turn to publicly developed GM crops. In:
Nature Biotechnology, 23, 1, S. 27-33.

www.botanischergarten.ch/PublicSector-Danforth-20050304/Cohen-Naturebiotech-2005.pdf

Ammann, K. (2005): Effects of biotechnology on biodiversity: herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant GM crops. In: Trends in Biotechnology, 23, 8, S. 388-394.
www.botanischergarten.ch/TIBTECH/Ammann-TIBTECH-Biodiversity-2005.pdf

Chrispeels, M.J. (2000): Biotechnology and the poor. In: Plant Physiology, 124, 1, S. 3-6.

Hucho, W., Brockhoff, K., van den Daele, W., Koechy, K., Reich, J., Rheinberger, H., Mueller-Roeber, B., Sperling, K., Wobus, A., Boysen, M., & Koelsch, M. (2005): Gentechnologiebericht, Analyse einer Hochtechnologie in Deutschland. Elsevier Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Muenchen. ISBN: 3-8274-1675-2, S. 580.
www.bbaw.de/bbaw/Forschung/Forschungsprojekte/gentechnologiebericht/bilder/Kurzfassung/download

Contact:

Prof. emerit. Dr. Hans Walter Heldt,

Chairman of the Commission Commission of Green Biotechnology of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and delegate at the IAP.

Tel.: 0551 / 22 463, E-Mail: HansWalterHeldt@aol.com

Prof. emerit. Dr. Klaus Ammann,

Prof. for Systematic Botany and Geobotany at the University of Bern ; collaborator at the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (http://supersorghum.org); :Commission of Green Biotechnology of the Academies of the German Academies of Sciences

Tel.: 0041 / 794 29 7062  E-Mail: klaus.ammann@ips.unibe.ch

Myriam Hoenig,

Public relations officer of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences,
Tel.: 030 / 325 98 7370, E-Mail: hoenig@akademienunion-berlin.de

The participants of the international Workshop on Green Biotechnology were:

Dr. Ismail abdelHamid, Egypt Biotechnology Information Center (EBIC), Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC); Kairo / Egypt

Prof. Dr. Klaus Ammann, Prof. emerit. for Systematic Botany and Geobotany at the University of Bern/Switzerland ; collaborator at the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (http://supersorghum.org); Commission of Green Biotechnology of the Academies of the German Academies of Sciences

Prof. Dr. Maarten Chrispeels, Center for Molecular Agriculture, Division of Biological Sciences , University of California San Diego ; San Diego / USA

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gottschalk, President of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences; Institute for Microbiology and Genetics, University of Goettingen; Goettingen / Germany.

Prof. Dr. Hans Walter Heldt, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences of the University of Goettingen; Goettingen / Germany, Chairman of the Commission of Green Biotechnology of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences

Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Jany, Director of the Molekularbiologisches Zentrums an der Bundesforschungsanstalt fuer Ernaehrung in Karlsruhe / Germany; Commission of Green Biotechnology of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences;

Prof. Dr. Vivian Moses, Kings College , Division of Life Sciences; London / UK

Prof. Dr. Bernd Müller-Röber, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam / Germany

Prof. Dr. Georges Pelletier, Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes INRA Versailles; Cedex / France

Prof. Dr. Zhen Zhu, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,  Deputy Director,  General of Bureau of Life Sciences & Biotechnology; Peking / China

Members who participate in the formulation of the statements but have not been able to attend the workshop:

Prof. Dr. Kameswara Rao, Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education, Basavanagudi; Bangalore / India

Prof. Dr. Jocelyn Webster, Executive Director of AfricaBio (Nonprofit organisation serving as a forum for discussion on biotechnical issues in Africa); Irene / South Africa

The InterAcademy Panel (IAP) is a worldwide network of 92 Academies of Sciences. It was founded in 1993 with the goal to advise citizens and politicians in the home countries of the academies on current problems of global relevance. So far it has produced amongst others, statements concerning the growing world population (1994), sustainable development (2000), the access of developing countries to scientific information (2003), and biosecurity (2005). The secretariat of the IAP is located in Trieste/Italy.

The Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities is an association of seven academies of sciences and humanities that have joined together to achieve their common goals. It assembles more than 1600 scientists and academics who are outstanding representatives of their disciplines, both nationally and internationally, and whose work covers a broad range of subject areas. They have joined forces to promote scientific exchange, high quality research, and the emergence of new talent in science and the humanities. The Union coordinates the so-called "Academies' Programme", one of the Federal Republic's most important and most comprehensive research programmes in the fields of cultural studies and the humanities. Thus, the Union is responsible for the coordination and the carrying out of joint research projects of its member academies. It advises on the setting of research priorities in related projects, promotes the exchange of information and experience between academies, and engages in public relations work. Furthermore, the Union represents the German academies of sciences and humanities abroad, and sends delegates to national and international science organisations. Academies of sciences and humanities of the German language area actually began to cooperate in a systematic manner more than a hundred years ago, forming the so-called "Cartel" at Leipzig in 1893. The Cartel was intended to supervise joint research projects of its member academies.