Ireland should become a GM-free zone, a Green Ireland conference in Kilkenny heard at the weekend. Irish food was at risk of "contamination" and the State's beef and dairy exports may be threatened by EU and World Trade Organisation (WTO) pressure to accept genetically modified (GM) seeds and crops, speakers said.
Irish and international delegates attended the conference, organised by environmental activist groups GM-Free Ireland Network and An Taisce. The chairman, Michael O'Callaghan, warned farmers they could "lose ownership of their seeds and crops" if the Government allowed the release of patented GM plants.
But the farming sector appears to be split on the issue, with the Irish Farmers' Association expressing cautious approval while smaller groups, such as the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association and the Irish Organic Farmers' Association, are strongly opposed.
Dr Vandana Shiva, director of the India-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, said: "The patenting of the world's traditional agricultural crop genes by agri-biotech companies is nothing less than bio-piracy. It is a blatant attempt to colonise the future of the world's genetic resources."
Fr Seán McDonagh, an environmental activist and author, condemned the "evil" being done by the WTO, and said the Republic should be "ashamed" of the Government's support for GM in international trade talks.
Clare Oxborrow, a Friends of the Earth Europe spokeswoman, told delegates the majority of EU consumers did not want GM food and 4,500 local government authorities in the EU - including the entire territory of Poland, Austria and Greece - have declared their opposition to GM. But she said despite "huge public opposition, the EU Commission was developing "pro-GM policies".
Deborah Koons Garcia, who showed her film documentary, The Future of Food, said there was growing "grassroots mobilisation" in the US against GM.
