An Impossible Coexistence: Transgenic and Organic Agriculture

[nosmokes]

The evidence continues to pile up that GMO pollution c cannot be controoled no more than can the wind. Let's stop this absurd experiment now and staart making the AgBiotechs put away sizable amounts of their profits in a trust to compensate organic farmers and consumers.
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original-innovations

An Impossible Coexistence: Transgenic and Organic Agriculture
30.06.2008

First field study in Europe carried out by a researcher from the UAB Institute of Environmental Science and Technology

The cultivation of genetically modified maize has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivations of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible. This is the main conclusion reached in one of the first field studies in Europe carried out by a researcher of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who has analysed the situation in Catalonia and Aragon, Europe’s main producers of transgenic foods.

The study was carried out by researcher Rosa Binimelis of the UAB Institute of Environmental Science and Technology. Binimelis is working on the European project ALARM (Assessing Large Scale Risks for Biodiversity with Tested Methods) and analyses the application of the concept of coexistence between Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and conventional organic agriculture in the European Union. The results of the research have been published in Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.

Since GM cultivation was introduced in Spain in 1998 it has been surrounded by controversy, and in the past few years has evolved into a debate over the concept of coexistence between transgenic and conventional organic agriculture. This concept was introduced in 2002 by the European Commission with two objectives: to deal with the emerging concerns derived from the admixture of different cultivations, since organic farmers are committed to not using GMOs, and to make it easier to lift the existing "de facto" moratorium - which is not officially recognised - within Europe so as to introduce new transgenic cultivations. Thus the concept of coexistence, after applying technical measures, should make it possible to operate freely in the market while reducing the political conflicts linked to GMOs. The European Commission is planning this year to evaluate how the policy of coexistence has been implemented in the past ten years.

Before GMOs were introduced previous studies in this area were carried out using modelling or experimental cases, due to the lack of commercial fields in most European countries. Researcher Rosa Binimelis however analyses the situation in Catalonia and Aragon, where the commercial cultivation of transgenic crops began in 1998. This research is therefore unique and especially relevant to the European Commission's assessment scheduled for this year and involved qualitative techniques by means of 51 in-depth interviews and participant observation (twenty-two interviews with farmers while the remaining were held with key political figures, including government representatives, scientists, academics, as well as NGO members and other organisations and platforms).

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complete article here

[jgraz]

1. Just another "benefit" of GMO crops: the destruction of organic farming

Nothing scares the shit out of ADM and Monsanto than great food produced without the use of their toxins. Contamination by their GMOs is one of the most effective way to destroy the organic farming movement.

[Karenina]

2. AND it's just SO EASY!!!

[Liberty Belle]

3. Better yet let's ban GMO farming unless it's in greenhouses so it can't spread

to organic farms!