Devinder Sharma

Indian Policy Expert to Address MPs on Implications For Developing Countries of UK GM Policy

Media Advisory 18mar04

[Full UK Schedule]

The noted Indian food policy expert Devinder Sharma will address MPs at the House of Commons on Tuesday the 23^rd March at 10:00am, on the subject of genetically modified crops and developing countries. Joan Ruddock MP (Labour) will host the event. (1)

The government’s recent decision to allow the commercial growing of GM maize in the UK has implications overseas. (2) The political signal given by the UK government to the biotech industry is that GM crop technology and genetic engineering are acceptable for agriculture, despite widespread evidence that they are not needed, wanted nor effective.

The government decision will be widely used by the biotech industry as a green light for further promoting patented GM genes and genetic engineering in countries overseas, where Biosafety regulations are not fully in place, in order to combat hunger and poverty. UK government international development policy also supports the use of GM crops and it was intended to use such arguments to promote the decision with MPs and the UK public.(3) The assertions of benefit from using GM crops are, however, rejected by developing countries and the leading development organisations in the UK. (4) (5)

Sharma will say: "Genetic engineering is not the answer to hunger. Like the Green Revolution, which bypassed the small and marginal farmers, the misplaced ‘gene revolution’ will bypass the hungry."

He will examine the long-term implications of GM for food security in developing countries and argue why the patented genetically modified traits that are commercially available (e.g to kill insects using built-in insecticides or to tolerate increased herbicide use) will not address the food needs of the poor.

He will make the case why the signal to licence a GM crop in the UK should not have been sent by the UK government; and that it would have been more useful for the poor and hungry if the government had instead promoted increased Biosafety regulation in developing countries and a redirection of agricultural support and research towards sustainable agriculture.

1. The meeting is at 10am, Tuesday 23^rd March, Room W4 off Westminster Hall, in the House of Commons (St Stephen’s entrance).
2. Margaret Beckett announced the government’s decision to allow commercial planting of GM fodder maize (Bayer’s Chardon LL) on the 9^th March 2004.
3. The leaked minutes of a ministerial SCI-BIO meeting in advance of the announcement by DEFRA revealed the intention of the government to implement a "presentational strategy" that would include the argument that GM crops are needed to alleviate hunger and poverty in developing countries. In the event, and as a result of public pressure, this argument was not used directly in Margaret Beckett’s statement. For more information on the SCI-BIO meeting please go to: www.genewatch.org/Press%20Releases/pr59.htm.
4. "We resent the way that the stereotyped image of the hungry in developing countries has been used to force a style of agriculture that will only exacerbate problems of hunger and poverty." Dr Tewolde Egziabher, Director General of the Environmental Protection Authority in Ethiopia.
5. "Claims that GMOs are necessary for the food security of poor people in developing countries should not be used to promote public acceptance of GM by the UK public. We believe such claims are misleading and fail to acknowledge the complexities of poverty reduction and household food security in developing countries." British Overseas Aid Group –(Action Aid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, OXFAM GB and Save the Children UK). For more on this statement please go to: www.ukabc.org/gmcrops.htm

Devinder Sharma is a widely respected expert on food security, agriculture, trade and biotechnology issues in developing countries. He chairs the New Delhi-based Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security. His recent booklet "GM Food and Hunger: a view from the South" was published in January (see: www.ukabc.org/gmfood&hunger.doc).

He will be available for interviews after the Parliamentary Briefing.

To book an interview with Devinder Sharma or find out more about the Briefing, please contact:

Teresa Anderson, Gaia Foundation, teresa@gaianet.org 07984 932 655, or
Patrick Mulvany, UK Food Group, patrickmulvany@clara.co.uk 07949 575711