Testimonies to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry of Maine

MOFGA Testimony

Organic Consumers Association Testimony (below)

To: Members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

Re: LD 1219, Act to Establish a Moratorium on Genetically Engineered Plants in Maine

Dear Committee Members,

Thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony in support of LD 1219. The Organic Consumers Association represents 500,000 people throughout the United States who care about the quality and safety of the food they eat, as well as the social and ecological effects of agricultural practices.

We believe that passage of this measure would benefit consumers, including our members, because currently they can't choose GE-free foods unless they are willing to pay the premium for organic products. Naturally we are happy when they do so, but we understand that there are financial constraints for many people, and sometimes there are problems in finding these items, as well. If all foods containing GE ingredients were labeled, consumers could choose for themselves whether to consume these foods or not. However, the biotechnology industry has lobbied vigorously and effectively to prevent mandatory labeling; thus, it seems unlikely to be established anytime soon.

The state of Maine has already created one exception to the situation in which consumers can only avoid GE products by buying organic, in the Quality Seal on milk produced without the use of rBGH. We commend the Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture for defending this choice. There are many reasons we oppose genetic engineering. We feel, in fact, that the only reason this technology has been approved for use in the US with almost no testing is the revolving door between management of life sciences corporations and the offices of the FDA and USDA. Regulatory agencies elsewhere have been much more cautious, appropriately so. Because they have exercised this caution, consumers in the EU, Japan, and many other places have refused to take the risks inherent in consuming these untested products of poorly understood technologies, which have been so prematurely thrust into the marketplace. And this, in turn, brings up a key reason for Maine legislators to support LD1219; it creates a marketing opportunity for the farmers that you represent. The primary mission of OCA is to further the interests of organic consumers, but we have a strong secondary mission to help organic farmers.

Organic farming is threatened by unregulated biotechnology. Pollen from GE plants has contaminated organic crops, ruining livelihoods; biotechnology corporations were recently successful in preventing passage of a bill in North Dakota that would have placed economic liability for such losses with the companies, rather than farmers.

This bill would enhance marketing opportunities for ALL Maine farmers, whether they grow organically or not, because it would signal buyers that "grown in Maine" means "GE-free". Currently, farmers in countries that ban this technology are benefiting from the losses faced by US farmers as a result of the refusal of EU and Japanese and other consumers to play the role of guinea pigs.

Some would have you believe that this refusal stems from unscientific fears, or is a cover for protectionism. But there are several very real, and very serious questions about the safety of foods produced with GE ingredients, as well as questions about effects on the environment.

Very briefly, we are concerned about health risks such as

• studies by Dr Pusztai at Rowett Institute indicated that the use of the cauliflower mosaic virus as a gene promoter to "turn on" introduced genes may cause stomach damage. This virus has been used in virtually all applications.
  
  
• the use of genes for antibiotic resistance, mixed with the viral promoter and the desired gene sequence, to identify those organisms that have taken up the new genetic material (because they survive a dose of the antibiotic in question). Studies have shown that these combinations contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance
  
  
• allergens.a human test for allergic reaction to soybeans engineered with a gene from Brazil nuts, revealed that the allergen for Brazil nuts had been transferred. This allergy can be fatal. The usual tests with animals had been performed, and had come up negative. How are people with allergies supposed to know which foods to avoid, when genes from the offending item could be spliced into anything else?
  
  
• The StarLink case shows that segregation is unreliable, as do the more recent cases in which residue from corn crops engineered to exude pharmaceutical drugs invaded subsequent crops.
  
  
• The 37 deaths and thousands of injuries caused by a genetically engineered batch of the dietary supplement L-tryptophan in 1989 in Japan.

Some of the environmental concerns include

• Increased use of herbicides due to the most popular of all GE applications, which is herbicide tolerance
  
  
• Damage to non-target insects due to the other major application, crops with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis spliced into every cell throughout the growing season
  
  
• The rapid development of resistance to Bt, caused by this massive overuse, thus robbing organic farmers of one of their best tools
  
  
• The development of "super-weeds", now occurring as predicted
  
  
• The unpredictability of this poorly understood technology may lead to disasters such as was narrowly averted with the GE soil microorganism Klebsiella planticola, which turned out to kill all plants in its vicinity.

We also have ethical concerns arising from the patenting of life-forms, concerns for persons who for religious or ethical reasons choose not to eat meat, or pork or other people, and would rather not eat genetic sequences from these animals spliced into food products. Additionally we worry about the impact on farmers and food security when corporations control all of the inputs, including genetic resources, involved in agriculture.

For all of these reasons, the Organic Consumers Association urges the members of the Joint Committee to approve LD 1219.

Sincerely,
Ronnie Cummins, Director