﻿ Will farmers carry the burden of GMO contamination? |
Greenpeace International  Will farmers carry the burden of GMO
contamination?  Strong legislation needed to ensure the survival
of GMO-free farming  Feature story - March 4, 2003 Genetically
engineered (GE) crops, as any other living organism, grow and
reproduce. That's why genetic contamination is a problem with
the potential to multiply. A proposal in the EU aims to put the
burden of controlling contamination onto farmers seeking to keep
their fields GE-free.   Once GE crops are planted on a
commercial scale, the measures to avoid contamination can
substantially increase the final cost of conventional and
organic products. The EU Joint Research Centre has calculated an
increase of costs as high as 41 percent for oilseed rape seed
production, and 9 percent for conventional maize production in
Europe.  One would think that politicians would see it as their
responsibility to prevent genetic contamination from happening.
However, this doesn't seem to be th