C A N A D A

(3.5 million hectares)

C H I N A

(2.1 million hectares)

A U S T R A L I A

(0.1 million hectares)

A R G E N T I N A

(13.5 million hectares)

U N I T E D

S T A T E S

(39 million hectares)

S O U T H

A F R I C A

(0.3 million hectares)

MEXICO

COLOMBIA

BRAZIL

URUGUAY

HONDURAS

SPAIN

GERMANYGERMANY

ROMANIAROMANIA

BULGARIABULGARIA

INDIA

INDONESIA

NEW

ZEALAND

PHILIPPINES

JAPAN

Australasia

GM cotton in Australia is set to boom. Currently farmers can only plant up to 30% of their cotton crop with Bt varieties, in order to reduce the chance of insects developing resistance to the insecticidal toxin that the crops produce. But a new version of GM cotton approved for the coming growing season, which produces two insecticidal toxins and so should have fewer problems with resistance, will be allowed to cover 80% of fields. A transgenic form of canola has also been given the go-ahead by the federal government. But most individual states, worried about the trade implications, have not yet approved its commercial release.

In New Zealand, a moratorium on the commercial planting of GM crops will be lifted on 29 October. But no one expects a rush of commercial planting, as the country’s farmers don’t grow much cotton, soya beans or canola. They do grow maize, but New Zealand isn’t troubled by the corn-borer pest that transgenic Bt maize is engineered to resist. The lifting of the ban is, however, expected to prompt applications for farm-scale trials of GM crops — particularly potatoes, which are already in smaller field trials.

India

As the world’s largest cotton-growing nation, India could become a huge market for transgenic cotton. The government approved commercial planting of varieties engineered to produce the insecticidal Bt protein in 2002, although in the first year only 0.5% of the country’s cotton was transgenic.

More generally, attitudes towards GM crops are influenced by national pride, with opposition focused on the products of foreign multinational companies, rather than homegrown technologies. India’s government supports local research into high-protein potato, high-yield mustard, and drought- and salt-tolerant rice, for example. But it banned the import of maize-soya flour from US aid agencies last year after several Indian environmental organizations protested against their potential GM content.

Asia

The Philippines became the first Asian country to approve a transgenic version of a staple food crop for commercial growth when Bt maize, which produces an insecticidal toxin, was given the go-ahead last December. This is expected to set a precedent for GM rice varieties to be researched there.

China was ploughing ahead with transgenic agriculture until 2000, when its government suddenly backed away from the commercial approval of GM food crops. The country claims that this cautionary stance is a result of safety concerns raised in the West. But critics in the United States charge that China is simply waiting until its own varieties are advanced enough to compete effectively with those from abroad. At present, half the country’s cotton is transgenic — and a large proportion of that is from the US company Monsanto rather than from China.

Japan has made agricultural biotechnology a focus of its science budget, although GM enthusiasts are having to fight hard to overcome strong public opposition. Currently 38 GM food plants have been given approval for commercial release into the environment and 55 have passed the health ministry’s food-safety provision. But none is being grown commercially because of lack of consumer demand.

Europe After a five-year hiatus, the European Union (EU) is expected to resume approving commercial plantings of genetically modified (GM) crops within the next few months. Ever since the last approval in October 1998, France, Italy, Denmark, Greece and Luxembourg banded together to say ‘no’ to GM crops. Now that the EU has agreed on regulations for labelling and tracking GM produce, the grounds for these countries’ objections have largely been removed. Even so, individual member states are expected to fight for additional regulations concerning such things as the creation of GM-free areas or commercial liability for problems caused by GM crops.

A handful of transgenic crops was approved before 1998, but only one — a variety of herbicide-resistant maize — is being grown in any significant amount, and that only in Spain.

South America Brazil has in recent weeks approved the planting of GM soya beans for this year’s growing season, which could pave the way to permanent legalization of the crop. The approval comes after court rulings in 1998 and 1999 that banned the growth of GM crops and effectively paralysed research in the area. But farmers have been planting GM soya regardless — in some states 80% of the crop is believed to be transgenic.

The seeds that sowed Brazil’s illicit transgenic soya boom were imported from neighbouring Argentina, which has a strongly pro-GM government. Some 90% of the country’s soya beans are transgenic, as well as 50% of its maize and some of its cotton.

Mexico

Transgenic cotton grows in Mexico’s fields and, despite regulations to the contrary, it seems probable that some GM maize grows there too. Mexico is home to the world’s oldest and most diverse varieties of maize, and the government banned the growth of GM maize five years ago to protect this genetic heritage. Since then, some researchers have produced evidence suggesting that transgenes have spread to Mexican maize varieties. Unlabelled GM maize is widely imported into the country for food, and so could have wound up in some farmers’ fields, allowing cross-pollination to occur. But these results, which have inflamed the debate over the extent to which transgenic crops can be kept under control, are still hotly debated.

North America

The United States is the world’s leading GM nation, both in terms of the area under cultivation and public acceptance of transgenic food. GM crops are everywhere, making up 40% of the country’s maize, 81% of soya beans, 65% of canola, or oilseed rape, and 73% of cotton — and those numbers are still growing. GM crops are widely used in food for both humans and animals, none of which needs to be labelled as transgenic.

The situation is similar in Canada, where GM corn, soya beans and canola are widely grown. But concern is building about the next target for agribiotech giant Monsanto, which is applying to both the US and Canadian governments for permission to market GM wheat. Canadian farmers fear that the introduction of transgenic varieties could destroy their foreign markets, particularly in Japan, where GM products aren’t welcomed by consumers.

Africa South Africa is the only African country with a developed commercial sector — 80% of its cotton, 20% of its maize and 11% of its soya is genetically modified. Agribiotech firms see the rest of Africa as an important testing ground for the future. They are now jostling with anti-GM activists to influence the hearts and minds of African scientists, opinion-formers and the public.

30–40

10–15

1–5

Less than 1

Officially 0

Soya

37

72

Cotton

7

34

Canola /oilseed

rape

3

25

Corn /maize

12

140Not GM

GM

Worldwide cultivation of the four main commercial GM crops in 2002 (million hectares)

GM world viewToday, just four countries account for 99% of the world’scommercially grown transgenic crops. But that is changing— policies are being thrashed out, laws drawn up andseeds sown. Here we show how GM is taking root.

news feature news feature

Area planted withcommercial GM cropsin 2002, by country(million hectares)

Source: C. James Global Status ofCommercialized Transgenic Crops:(Preview); www.isaaa.org/kc

I.B

RIT

TO

N/F

RE

EFO

TO

.CO

M

658 659

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