Genetic engineering versus organic farming. - IUCN


Dec 11, 2012 (5 years and 3 months ago)


From bees and carrots – 4 stories
Your questions – our answers
Your questions – our answers
From bees and carrots – 4 stories
Genetic engineering versus
organic farming.
The fact and the fiction.
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© IFOAM 2002
ISBN 3-934055-16-8Price: 4 Euro
These are useful questions to ask when as-
sessing a new technology. In the case of
GMOs (genetically modified organisms) there
are no benefits for either consumers or pro-
ducers– only for the companies producing
and selling them.
If farmers feel they need herbicide-resistant
varieties that is because they are locked into
a production system that depends on chemical
Genetic engineering is just one more step
into a cul-de-sac (blind alley) that leads to
further degradation of the environment,
increased dependency of farmers and more
risks for everybody.
The organic movement rejects GMOs in all
agriculture, from an economic and ethical
perspective, from a political perspective, from
a risk perspective and simply because it is not
We also offer a real alternative. Millions of
organic farmers, big or small, rich or poor,
demonstrate daily that organic agriculture
can produce sufficient safe food for every-
one– without using GMOs.
Gunnar Rundgren
IFOAM President
Who benefits? Who needs it? Where does it lead?
Push-and-Pull: an innovative and low-tech solution to control stemborers in Africa
The stemborer is Africa’s worst maize pest. In combination with the Striga weed it can destroy whole crops. The International Research
Institute ICIPE in Kenya, together with local farmers, developed a successful Push-and-Pull strategy: The farmers plant 3 rows of the fodder grass
Napier around the maize field. Napier grass has a chemical aroma that attracts the stemborer larvae out of the maize crop. Most of them are
killed in the sticky sap of the Napier grass. Between the rows of maize farmers also plant the legume Desmodium, which exudes a chemical aroma
that repels stemborers. Desmodium also suppresses Striga. It is a perfect Push-and-Pull strategy, which provides healthy maize, additional feed
and protection for the soil.
Another approach to control the stemborer is genetically engineered Bt-maize: This maize, with genes from the soil bacterium Bt, produces a
toxin to combat the stemborer. The Swiss multinational company Syngenta started a project with Bt-maize in Kenya, together with a Kenyan
Institute. But is it sensible to invest everything in an unproven and risky technology, which also increases once again the dependency of small
Left: Mrs Ouzo’s fields were
completely destroyed by the
stemborer. Now–with Push-
and-Pull–she has good yields.
Middle: Stemborer in maize.Right: close-up of an adver-
tisement of a biotech company:
The vision is monocultures.
Vitamin A rice - a grand illusion?
Left: The beauty of diversity–the
best prevention for VAD.
Right: The genetically engineered
rice is also patented.
Vitamin A rice – a genetically engineered
rice producing pro-vitamin A – is being
offered to the Third World as a remedy
for widespread Vitamin A Deficiency
(VAD). But there are fundamental problems:
An adult would need to eat 9 kg of cooked
rice a day for the required intake of vitamin
A (whereas eating just two carrots would be
enough). It is an open question whether trans-
genic rice will work in practice, and nothing
is known about long-term threats to eco-
systems and human health. Furthermore, there
are many patents on Vitamin A rice. "The
problem is that the transgenic rice will not
remove VAD. It is a technology that fails in its
promise, because there are no silver bullet
solutions to such complex problems", says the
Indian scientist Vandana Shiva.
The MAIN point is, however, that there are
many better, cheaper and already proven
solutions. The root cause of VAD and many
other diseases is a totally unbalanced diet: rice,
rice and nothing but rice. So changing dietary
habits is essential. Small gardens with green
leafy vegetables and with fruits, leaves from
wild plants, dried mango slices, dried Baobab
leaves, sweet potatoes... Even the World Bank
has admitted that rediscovering and using local
plants and conserving vitamin A rich fruit and
vegetables has dramatically reduced the number
of VAD threatened children in inexpensive
and efficient ways.
Using bees as 'Flying Doctors'
were asked not to use perfume because this
could confuse the plants.) Scientists are trying
to find out if these scents could be used to
warn tomatoe plants in advance of a caterpillar
invasion. The plants would be perfectly prepared:
a clever strategy, using nature’s own methods.
Grey mould is the worst disease affecting
strawberries. A clever new organic control
uses honey bees or bumble bees. When the
bee leaves the hive, she passes through a
footbath containing an antidote to grey mould.
This is a harmless fungus. When bees pollinate
the strawberry blossoms, they deliver the
harmless fungus precisely into the blossoms.
The beneficial fungus thus inoculates the
blossoms preventing infection by grey mould.
Recent studies in the US and Switzerland
show that strawberry yields can be more than
doubled with the help of these ‘Flying Doctors’.
More findings from modern organic
research: plants can ‘talk’ to each other.
When attacked by a caterpillar, a tomatoe
plant starts to produce defence chemicals.
It also warns neighbouring plants by exuding
a scent as an SOS-signal. These tomatoes then
also start to produce the defence chemicals,
even though they are not being attacked. (This
scent, methyl-jasmonate, is often used in
perfumes. During the experiments women Left: Bumble beeRight: Perfume flask: tomatoes
‘talk’ to each other with scents.
Genetic contamination - a serious problem
Maize comes originally from Mexico and
Peru. Here the greatest diversity of maize
cultivars and wild species can be found. This
‘centre of origin’ with its amazing genetic
diversity is essential for the future of maize
breeding and thus for world-wide food security.
But this ‘centre of origin’ is already contami-
nated. A US-study shows that even in remote
Mexican valleys local maize varieties contain
genes from transgenic Bt-maize. "We were
surprised by these results. We didnot expect
any such thing, and it's most disturbing. What
this means is that an entire species in its native
state may soon become, in effect, genetically
contaminated " says scientist Ignacio Chapella
from the University of California (USA), who's
team did this research.
The Mexican study indicates that genes from
transgenic plants can spread across geographic
areas and between varieties more quickly than
scientists had previously thought.
Left: Great variety of maize
Right: Genetic engineering in the
Vandana Shiva, President of
the Research Foundation for
Science, Technology and
Ecology, India; winner of the
Alternative Nobel prize 1993:
"Genetically engineered plants are
patented. Farmers are not allowed
to save or exchange seed from
their crops. Through patenting
a thousand-year-old tradition
is turned into a criminal act.
This cannot work. I'm convinced
that organic farming is the only
option - for the South and for
the North."
Genetic engineering is a new technology, involving
the manipulation of genes. Scientists can transfer
genes from one species to another, unrelated
species. This is possible because of the universal
‘gene language’– the genetic code. It is the same
for all living beings, be it animal, plants or micro-
organisms. For example, genes from a fish can be
transferred to a tomatoe plant to render the
tomatoe plant more resistant to frost. The
engineered tomatoe plant is genetically forced
to produce the fish chemical, because of this
universal ‘gene language’. So it produces an
‘antifreeze’ chemical which the fish normally
produces to survive in freezing cold water.
With genetic engineering it is possible to break
down the species boundaries set up by millions
of years of evolution. Never before was it possible
to transfer genes from animals to plants or from
bacteria to humans. By combining the genes of
unrelated species, permanently altering their genetic
codes, novel organisms are created that will pass
the genetic changes onto their offspring through
Genetic engineering is a corporate technology,
mainly applied by industrial agriculture. In the year

just five multinationals dominated the whole
biotech business in agriculture.

98% of all transgenic crops were grown in
three countries: the USA, Canada and Argentina.

Two features were dominant: well over
70% of all GM-crops grown world wide are
herbicide-resistant plants, and over 20 % are
insect-resistant Bt-plants.
Organic agriculture is a sustainable form of
production. It promotes and enhances biodiversity,
biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is
based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on
methods that restore, maintain and enhance
ecological harmony. Organic farming does not use
synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides and
fertilisers relying instead on developing a healthy,
fertile soil and sound crop rotations. In this way,
the farm remains biologically balanced, with a wide
variety of beneficial insects and other organisms
to act as natural predators for crop pests and a
soil full of micro organisms and earthworms to
maintain its vitality. If direct control measures have
to be taken to prevent serious crop damages,
different agents of natural sources (for example
Neem and Pyrethrum extracts) and biocontrol
agents (for example ladybirds against aphids)
can be used.
Organic livestock production focuses on animal
welfare and husbandry methods that prevent the
need for veterinary treatments. It is a method of
agricultural production that is environmentally
friendly, requiring high standards of animal welfare
with health benefits for people. Organic farming
recognises that human health is directly connected
to the health of the food we eat and, ultimately,
the health of the soil. Organic agriculture both
Your questions - our answers
1.What is genetic
2.What is organic farming?
Hans Herren, Director of the
ICIPE , Kenya, winner of the
World Food prize 1995:
"When I'm visiting agricultural
research institutes in Africa and
India, I find the labs for biological
control half empty and with
broken windows. But the biotech-
labs will be all new, with new
equipment and stuffed with staff.
Biocontrol projects, as we do it,
are not so spectacular, not so sexy.
Here I see a big problem."
relies on the vast knowledge and skills of farmers
and on modern research to provide innovative
new technologies.
‘Organic farming’ is a term defined by IFOAM
standards and all organic food production and
processing is governed by a strict set of standards
and guidelines.
Organic farming and genetic engineering are two
contradictory world views, two different philo-
sophies, the two main options for the future.
The basic principles of organic farming are holistic.
Rather than looking at isolated parts, the whole
farm as a living entity is the focus. It is seen as a
whole, enmeshed in the intrinsic web of life and
part of the interactions and relationships between
all living beings. Organic farming seeks to maintain
an overall balance, by enhancing biodiversity (for
example, flowering plants are sown on the borders
of fields to attract beneficial insects into the crops).
Organic pesticides are only used in emergencies
cases, as supplementary measures.
Genetic engineering, on the contrary, isolates and
reduces complex problems to single issues and
then tries to find a technical solution. The very
basis of genetic engineering depends on the search
for single-factor-solutions, whereas all major
problems of the environment and agriculture are
multi-factoral. An example: Bt-maize expresses a
toxin that kills the maize pest stemborer. But what
if other, often beneficial, insects (such as lacewings,
the monarch- or the black swallowtail-butterfly)
are harmed as well? What consequences follow
if the toxin also influences the soil-food-web or
if the stemborer acquires a resistance to the
Proponents of genetic engineering often claim
that they are doing the same work as conventional
breeding, just faster and with more precision.
It is true that gene transfers also occur in con-
ventional plant breeding, but these only take place
between individuals of the same species, or, in
some cases, between closely related species. A rice
plant can cross with a different rice species, but
not with a walnut. Genetic engineering is not bound
by these limits. So, for example the genetically
engineered Vitamin A rice contains newly inserted
genes from daffodils, viruses and bacteria. As a
result a new form of life has been created.
The standards established by IFOAM categorically
exclude genetically engineered organisms and
products containing GMOs from the organic
production system. With the application of
transgenic organisms problems of contamination
arise at different levels:
3. Why are genetic
engineering and organic
farming incompatible?
4. What are the differences
between conventional
breeding and genetic
5. Is genetic engineering
affecting organic farming?
Dr.Tewolde Gebre Egziabher,
Ethiopia, leader of Third
World countries in interna-
tional negotiations around
patents, genetic engineering
and biodiversity, winner of
the Alternative Nobel prize
"With patents big companies
make our farmers dependent
from their seed. Here I see a great
risk for worldwide food security
and biodiversity”.
Regina Fuhrer, president of
the Swiss Organic Farmers
"I'm an organic farmer. For me it's
obvious that genetic engineering
has to be kept out of agriculture.
The risk of contamination is far
too big. But above all we have
much better solutions, dealing
carefully and respectfully with

In the field: Pollen from genetically engineered
plants is blown by wind or carried by insects
into other fields, thus contaminating these crops.
Bees are known to distribute pollen over a
distance of 3 kilometres.

In seed production: Breeding and multiplication
of organic seed and seedlings is also affected
by contamination from pollen from GM-plants.

During harvesting, transport and processing:
At all points from the field to the final processing
facility (during transport on trucks, ships or
trains, in mills, in food-processing factories etc.)
there are many opportunities for contamination.
Only strict segregation can minimise the risk.
Farmers, processors and traders wanting to produce
and sell organic and GMO-free products; and
consumers wanting to buy it, are confronted with
massive problems of genetic pollution.
Another problem is that the pests may develop
resistance to the Bt-toxin of transgenic plants. Bt-
sprays are also used in organic farming, however,
as an effective, natural insecticide. If this resistance
were to occur they would become ineffective.
No agricultural revolution has ever solved the
problem of world hunger. Hunger is a social and
political problem and not a problem of production
techniques. There is more than enough food for
everybody in the world today. Genetic engineering
may actually lead to more food insecurity and
hunger because it will encourage the planting of
monocultures, highly vulnerable to disease and
pests, and it will make farmers more dependent
on multinational companies that will demand
payment for the patented GM-plants and seeds,
and for chemicals and fertilisers. GMO-agriculture
is the continuation of industrialised agriculture with
all its known problems in an even more threatening
dimension. Through unequal promotion of an
industrialised GMO-agriculture the natural
resources for all our food – biodiversity, healthy
soils and clean water – will be further destroyed.
The main question confronting organic and sus-
tainable farming is: how can farmers increase their
yields with cheap, locally available and simple
technologies, without damaging the environment?
Organic farmers take their fate again in their own
hands, and as many examples show, they can often
increase their production – especially in the
developing countries – significantly. One example:
In Cuba the traditional ‘three-sister-agriculture’
with maize, beans and cassava produces yields twice
as high as the sum of each one in monoculture.
The maize plants function as bean sticks for beans
and the beans fix nitrogen into the soil. Meanwhile,
cassava grows well in the shady and damp conditions
with the maize and beans, and helps suppress weeds.
Food for all is a long-term project, and only the
protection of biodiversity and the cultural diversity
of agriculture adapted to local conditions can secure Recommended further reading:
IFOAM dossier "Organic Agriculture and Food Security"
available at the website or from the Headoffice.
6. Will genetic engineering
feed the hungry?
7. Will organic farming feed
the hungry?
Miguel Altieri, Professor of Ag-
ricultural Ecology, University
of Berkeley, USA:
"We have shown on hundreds of
examples that small scale sustain-
able agriculture in the South can
lead to enormous production
increases. In some examples the
yields increased by more than
100%. The key to success was each
time: diversity instead of mono-
cultures. But genetic engineering
is pushing monocultures. It's no
recipe for the South".
this. "For us organic farming is not a luxury, but
the only possible solution to fight hunger and
poverty", says Tewolde Egziabher, leader of Third
World countries in international negotiations
concerning patents, genetic engineering and
Many experts fear that genetic engineering will
dramatically accelerate the loss of biodiversity. An
example: an English study predicts that a massive
release of herbicide-resistant GM-crops could lead
to the extinction of the already threatened skylark.
This bird feeds on weed seeds. In herbicide-resistant
GM-monocultures some of these weeds may be
eradicated. This could not only threaten the skylark,
but also other seed-eating birds and insects.
In general, genetic engineering represents a new
dimension in an industrial agriculture with a strong
tendency towards more monocultures, and thus a
continuing loss of biodiversity.
Furthermore, genetic engineering removes the
barriers that have protected the integrity of species
for millions of years. "There are probably good
reasons why it is impossible for a conventional
plant-breeder to combine plant genes with animal
genes. Those reasons have to do with the very
survival of life on earth, and we ignore them at our
peril", writes the US institute Sierra Club.
Organic farming is by its very nature based on
biodiversity. Many of its practices conserve and
enhance a rich diversity, for example:•
Mixed farming with crops and animals. For
example rice farmers in Bangladesh stopped
using pesticides and started to rear fish in their
rice fields and planted vegetables on paddy field
dikes, thus introducing a substantial increase in

Crop rotation is required practice in all organic

Trees, hedges and field margins maintain a rich
diversity of natural predators such as spiders,
birds and beetles that help to control pests.

By solely using organic fertilisers the fertility of
the soil and the diversity of soil organisms is
Maybe. Maybe not. GM-food is a new product,
with new proteins we have never eaten before.
We have never eaten bacterial proteins in maize,
nor fish proteins in tomatoes, nor viral proteins in
potatoes. Our bodies have no experience of these;
and there is no way to predict if the novel food
will cause allergies or other chronic bodily ailments
in 5 or 10 years.Recommended further reading:
IFOAM dossier ‘Biodiversity and Organic Agriculture’
available at the website or from the Headoffice.
8. Is genetic engineering
affecting biodiversity?
9. Is organic farming affecting
10. Will my health be affected
by genetic engineering?
Mae Van Ho, Professor of bio-
logy at the open University,
"I'm a scientist who loves science
and believes science and tech-
nology can help build a better
world and combat world hunger.
But it must be the right kind of
science and technology, and it must
be decided by people themselves.
Nature is interconnected and
dynamic. But proponents of gen-
etic engineering got stuck in the
age of mechanics - the technology
is just not innovative enough!"
Genetic engineering is not a precise technology:
there is no means of inserting a gene into a specific
position within the host cell. The genes end up
in random locations. But genes do not operate
in isolation, they interact with each other.
The inserted genes may disrupt vital other genes,
they might affect neighbour relationships, they
might disturb vital interactions. Possibly no acute
toxic food will enter the market, but nobody
can predict possible harmful long-term effects.
According to scientists, GM-food might have the
following harmful effects:•
Allergenic and immune system reactions to the
new substances contained in GMOs

Antibiotic-resistant genes, often used in genetic
engineering, could be transferred to pathogens
in the gut. Disease triggered by these pathogens
could no longer be treated with these antibiotics.

New genes could alter the expression of native
genes and so may have unexpected secondary
GMOs are living beings, they can spread and
propagate. They can pass their foreign genes
to wild species. Once released, it will be vir-
tually impossible to recall genetically engineered
organisms back into the laboratory. We are open-
ing Pandora’s box.
Some possible negative consequences for the
environment include:•
Pollen from genetically engineered plants can
contaminate wild species.

Resistance amongst pests and diseases can

Soil organisms may be adversely affected by
GM- crops. Toxic Bt has been found to persist
in the soil for months, thus causing potential
damage to soil-food-webs.

Fish are being engineered to grow fast and
increase in size. Giant GM-fish, having escaped
from fish farms, may out-compete or even make
native species extinct.

Bacteria and viruses are genetically manipulated
for a wide range of traits. If they escape or if
they are released to the environment, they
could have even worse ‘side-effects’ than plants
and animals, because they reproduce and mutate
much faster.
In former times, nobody thought of patenting plants,
animals or human genes and cells. No one thought
it could be possible that an animal or a human
gene might ever be considered as an ‘invention’ or
Hardy Vogtmann, Honorary
president IFOAM, Head of the
German Federal Agency of
Nature Protection (BfN):
"The 'green biotechnology' pre-
tends to be eco-friendly and
to reduce the chemical input.
I'm sceptical. Our future lies in
decentralised and organic
11. What are the ecological
consequences of GMOs re-
leased into the environment?
12. Where do patents
come in?
Cecilia Oh, lawyer, Researcher
for TWN (Third World Net-
"Many Third World countries object
to patenting of seed and of living
beings. They are developing ways
and model-laws to protect their
crop diversity and farmers' know-
ledge from corporate control.
This gives me hope."
the‘intellectual property’ of some large company.
But in the developing age of genetic engineering,
industry is under pressure to expand the patent
system from lifeless materials to living beings, in
order to protect their financial investment in genetic
engineering. But is it right to patent a tomatoe
plant in the same way as a chemical or a vacuum
cleaner? If life is put on the same base as a patentable
commodity, if there is no longer a difference
between a living being and a non-living thing, this
will dramatically change our relationship to animals,
to plants, to other people and to ourselves.
Farmers have to pay royalties for every patented
seed, for every patented hen. And also for the
chickens produced by this hen, and for all further
chicken generations, for as long as 20 years. A
farmer planting patented GM-crops is not allowed
to save seed from this harvest for the next season.
Some farmers in the USA and Canada were sued
by the Monsanto company for doing this. With
patented seed the control is taken away from
farmers, from local areas, and passes into the hands
of private companies. Many critics regard this as a
major threat to world-wide food security and
The International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) meanwhile
unites some 750 member organisations and
institutions in about 100 countries from
Albania to Zimbabwe. International net-
working and promotion of organic agriculture
is the main task of the federation, which is
democratically structured with a grass-roots
IFOAM offers many opportunities for know-
ledge and information exchange, e.g. at nume-
rous international, continental and regional
IFOAM conferences. Information about the
organic movement is also exchanged via IFOAM
publications such as conference proceedings
or the magazine ‘Ecology and Farming’.
Florianne Koechlin,
Supported by:
David Frost (GB),
Bernward Geier (IFOAM, D),
Gerald Hermann (D)
and Eric Wyss (FiBL,CH)
Design by
DinnerDinge, Basel, CH
Title photo by
Navdanya, New Delhi, India
Printed by
Firma Werbedruck, Neunkirchen, D.
Published by
Publication supported by:
Schweisfurth Foundation/Germany
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phone: +49-6853-919890,
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References and background
information available from
or at the Headoffice
Information on genetic
and organic farming:
Uniting the Organic World . . .