AgWatch

Europe
Vol. 4, No. 2

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www.foodandwatereurope.org Fall 2010

A Quarterly Report on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Safety

GM Animals in the Food Chain

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) finding
that the AquAdvantage genetically modified (GM) salmon
is safe for human consumption sparked an international
public outcry that challenged the myth that U.S. consum-
ers are “happy” to eat GM foods. Angry citizens jammed
the White House switchboard with phone calls protesting
plans to approve sale of the fish and to not require label-
ling for the controversial product. In a poll Food & Water
Watch conducted with Lake Research Partners, 78 percent
of Americans say they don’t want GM salmon approved
without more research, and opposition grows stronger for
other transgenic meat.

There’s good reason for this concern — the FDA is relying
on safety “assessments” conducted by the biotechnology
company itself, which admits that, while they have com-
plied with FDA requirements, they have not conducted any
clinical trials on animals or humans on the safety of the fish
as a food. The FDA maintains its ludicrous position that the
GM salmon is “substantially equivalent” to natural fish, and
therefore does not require thorough safety testing, despite
reports that FDA scientists themselves have found elevated
levels of an insulin-like growth factor that is a suspected
carcinogen. To add insult to injury, production facilities
would be sited in Canada and Panama, a move many
believe is designed to avoid having to conduct the kind of
environmental impact assessments that would be required
if production were scheduled within the United States.
EU labelling requirements should mean consumers here
have more choice than our U.S. cousins, but as this sum-
mer’s cloning debacle showed (see inside), the only sure
way to prevent these products from finding their way onto
our plates is to ban them. Many consumers have already
indicated that they would have no option but to avoid
salmon altogether if GM salmon were not labelled.
Critics will now watch closely the progress of other GE
animals planned for the food chain, like the low-phosphate
Enviropig, including how liability will be handled for dam-
age they may cause. The fact remains that human error
often undoes the best laid contingency plans, and GE ani-
mals not only pose tremendous risks, but are more impor-
tantly totally unwanted and utterly unnecessary.

Water as a Human Right

In a surprise victory, the United Nations voted to pass a
resolution on the right to water and sanitation on July 28, Inside This Issue
2010. One hundred twenty-two states voted for the resolu-
tion and 41 abstained, including the United States. (No • Cloned Meat on Your Dinner Plate? – 2
state voted against the resolution.) In October, the UN Hu-
• GM Hiccups – 3
man Rights Council took it a step further, affirming that the
right is contained in existing human rights treaties and that • Bad Track Records of Private Water Companies
states have the primary responsibility to ensure the realisa- in Europe and the United States – 3
tion of these rights. • Fishy Formula — Bad for Business and the
Environment – 3
Even though the European Union has declared its support
• Deepwater Oil Drilling — Still No Sign of a
for the Human Right to Water, this right is violated daily:
Moratorium – 4
Water as a Human Right, continued on page 2
 eu ope AgWatch Europe • Fall 2010
Cloned Meat on Your Dinner Plate?
Tensions between EU and UK food safety authorities, as
well as between the European Commission and Parliament,
flared in August when an unnamed UK farmer alleged in
a U.S. newspaper that he had been selling milk from the
offspring of a cloned cow into the human food chain. A
UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) investigation could not
substantiate these claims, but more shockingly did discover
that meat from clone offspring had been sold and eaten
without consumers knowing. (See Food & Water Europe
factsheet at www.foodandwaterwatch.org/world/europe/
factsheets/cloned-animals/)
The FSA maintains that products from both clones and their
offspring must be treated as “novel foods” under regula-
tions designed to ensure they are safe. EU authorities, how-
ever, apply the definition only to the clones themselves,
not their offspring. This is not a small matter, as a Scot-
tish farmer with a dairy herd of some 96 clone offspring
announced he would apply to the FSA for authorisation
to sell their “premium” milk. He later backed away from
actually making the application, but consumers are now
fully aware of the presence of clones on EU farms, often as
a result of imported breeding material from U.S. clones.
The EU Parliament had voted in July for a complete ban on
clones and their offspring in the food chain, calling for an
immediate interim moratorium until the European Com-
mission could bring forward the legislation required. In
October, the Commission instead proposed a five-year ban
on cloning in the EU to acknowledge ethical and animal
welfare problems. It nevertheless proposes to continue the
import of products from clones (semen and embryos) and
food from clone offspring in the food chain. The Com-
mission also failed to deal with overwhelming consumer
demand for labels on any such products. Food & Water
Europe called this position “hypocritical and indefensible,”
as it effectively says cloning is ethically unacceptable in the
2
EU but turns a blind eye to proifts derived from suffering
outside the EU.
The situation is even worse in the United States where trace-
ability regarding products from cloned animals and their off-
spring seems to be lax. Tom Vilsack, who heads the United
Stated Department of Agriculture, said that he is not able to
confirm or deny if products from cloned animals and their
offspring have entered the food chain in North America.
Although Vilsack claimed that food products from such
animals are safe, he was also quoted in a recent Montreal
Gazette article as saying that “the U.S. will continue their
’moratorium’ on not allowing the sale of meat from cloned
animals until the products are widely accepted as safe.”
However, his own lack of knowledge and the events in
Europe make clear that cloning of animals on both sides of
the Atlantic is not adequately controlled.
Water as a Human Right
Continued from page 1
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated
1.7 billion people still lack access to clean water and 2.3
billion people suffer from water-borne diseases each year.
Water-borne diseases occur due to the inability to access
clean water, and are increasingly caused by the unafford-
able pricing of water. Pre-paid water meters are installed in
poor areas to ensure profitable supply and services are cut
off if citizens fall behind on their payments. Privatization of
water has only exacerbated the problem.
We are continuing to collaborate with allies around the
world to enshrine the human right to water in an interna-
tional treaty, looking towards the People’s Water Forum in
Marseille in 2012.
 AgWatch Europe • Fall 2010
GM Hiccups
The future of genetically modified (GM) food and crops in
the EU has faced renewed opposition on several fronts in
recent months.
After the controversial approval in March of the German
chemical company BASF’s GM Amflora potato, which
precipitated a number of bans in EU member states, the
company was summoned by the European Commission to
explain how the unapproved GM Amadea potato found its
way illegally into 11 fields in Sweden. The incident raised
questions about GM potato plantings in Germany and the
Czech Republic, with German authorities halting distribu-
tion of Amflora until the problem is resolved. The Mecklen-
burg-West Pomerania Environment Minister said, “My trust
in the BASF quality assurance system has been seriously
shaken.” BASF has applied for authorisation of the second
GM potato.
BASF downplayed the event in a September press release,
stating that the only a small number of Amadea potatoes
was found and that they were promptly removed before
entering commercial starch production. It also was quoted
in a recent European Voice article, stating that the Amadea
potatoes “are safe for humans, animals and environment.”
Bad Track Records of Private
Water Companies in Europe
and the United States
Recently releasing a report on both Veolia Environnement
and Suez Environnement, Food & Water Europe has been
tackling the privatization of water head-on. The Paris-
based companies have both gained notoriety for bill-
ing problems, poor system maintenance, repair delays,
workforce reductions and other issues that compromise
environmental and consumer safety to increase profits.
With the problem of aging water systems and a shortage
of funds, many municipalities consider privatizing their
water systems in order to upgrade these essential resourc-
es. But due to their inefficiencies, privatized water systems
often end up costing municipalities extra money in the
form of fines for water quality violations and water loss,
among other problems.
Food & Water Europe also helped launch “Water Makes
Money,” a new documentary exposing the corruption and
scandals behind private water contracts that the above-
mentioned companies make with communities around
the world, focusing on cases in France and Germany.
While it reveals a lot of dirty practices, there is also room
for hope, as it covers how communities have woken up
to this abuse and gathered forces to fight back and retake
control over their essential water resources. Learn more
about the film at www.watermakesmoney.com.
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This latest lapse in biosecurity involving illegal contamina-
tion of fields with unauthorised GM crops showed once
again that the risks are as much from human error and lax
corporate controls as from the technology itself, supporting
calls for an EU-wide ban on GM cultivation to dispel wor-
ries that such untested industrial crops may find their way
into the food chain.
Fishy Formula — Bad for
Business and the Environment
Food & Water Europe released a report on factory fish
farming as the European Parliament debated a new frame-
work laying the foundation for a European-wide policy
for sustainable aquaculture. Our report details the dam-
age caused by factory fish farming (known as open-ocean
aquaculture, or OOA), a practice which the Parliament
unfortunately supports.
Nearly three-fourths of the EU’s total aquaculture produc-
tion — namely farmed salmon, trout, seabass and sea
bream — originates from the more unsustainable, often
corporate-owned OOA systems. According to the report,
this figure has quadrupled since 1990 and risen 15-fold
since 1985.
The report links the rise in OOA to local economic dam-
age, citing communities that have experienced the loss of
thousands of jobs (see more at www.foodandwaterwatch.
org/world/europe/fish/fish-farms/no-jobs-here/). OOA
operations have polluted coastal waters, undergone numer-
ous corporate mergers and replaced employees with new
technology. OOA operations have also polluted waters
with disease, filth, and (sometimes unapproved) chemicals
and antibiotics that can leak from the cages.
Read the report at www.foodandwaterwatch.org/world/
europe/reports/fishy-formula/
3
 eu ope AgWatch Europe • Fall 2010

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig on April 21, 2010. Photo by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Deepwater Oil Drilling — Still No Sign of a Moratorium

Since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon in the While we welcome the Commission’s initial announce-
Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, Food & Water Europe has ment of a moratorium on deepsea oil drilling, their ambig-
been working with members of the European Parliament to uous position and withdrawal of a tougher stance shows
ensure that this never happens in Europe. that they are succumbing to pressure from oil companies.
The Commission and member states should not wait for
Before the BP disaster, both oil companies and the U.S. another accident to happen before taking this seriously.
Minerals Management Service said that there was a zero
percent chance of this ever happening, which led to
complacency in terms of safety checks and development
of safety technology. Since no risk was presumed, no Food & Water Europe
money had been invested into developing technology or Working to Protect Europe’s
detailed plans for capping a well should such an explosion Consumers, Farmers and Environment
occur. BP’s own internal documents, as quoted in a
recent U.K. Telegraph article, stated that, “The oil spill Food & Water Europe is a non-profit food safety and
consequences of a catastrophic failure of a deep sub-sea agriculture policy organisation with offices throughout the
well head, either due to equipment failure or accidental EU that works toward sustainable food production and
damage, have never been considered in detail.” water resource policies.
tel: +48 146 422 127
A recent motion for a resolution was passed in the web: www.foodandwatereurope.org
Environment Committee of the European Parliament where email: europe@fwwatch.org
MEPs supported a moratorium on all new drilling permits,
but the specific call for a moratorium failed when it passed Staff
before a parliamentary plenary vote under heavy attack Wenonah Hauter – Executive Director –
from certain political parties. whauter@fwwatch.org

After meeting with oil companies in July, the European Gabriella Zanzanaini – Brussels coordinator –
Commissioner for Energy stated that he fully believed a gzanzanaini@fweurope.org
moratorium on all new drilling permits was necessary
and that a coordinated European effort was essential. In Eve Mitchell – UK representative –
October he finally proposed a moratorium be enforced, emitchell@fweurope.org
before softening his stance the next day after pressure from
member states and instead called for EU member states Anna Witowska – GMOs, Eastern European
to stop granting licences for new installations until safety issues, factory farming, global trade – awitowska@
regimes have been assessed. fweurope.org