Swiss vote to ban GM crops deprives farmers of choice

30-Nov-2005

In a referendum on a moratorium on biotechnology in Swiss agriculture, 55.6% of Swiss voters supported a five-year ban on the commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops in Switzerland. The initiative was brought by a coalition of groups, including environmental, consumer and agricultural associations. The Federal Government as well as the Swiss Parliament had recommended to vote against the ban. The ban will last until November 27, 2010.

EuropaBio, the EU association for bioindustries regrets the negative result for Switzerland, as a location for research and innovation. Although the ban only concerns the commercial cultivation of GM crops, from experience with the de facto moratorium in the European Union, the impact will be acutely felt in terms of investment in research and innovation. Field trials in the EU declined significantly during this period.

The ban means that Swiss farmers will be deprived of the choice to use advanced biotechnologies. The European Bioindustry will continue to campaign to offer farmers and consumers the choice to opt for GM technologies.

There is no scientific basis to the banning of GM technologies. This year marks 10 years of wide scale commercial planting of biotech crops and saw the one billionth acre of GM crops planted. Biotech crops were grown by approximately 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries in 2004. Notably, 90% of the beneficiary farmers were resource-poor farmers from developing countries.

A recent study by PG Economics and published in the peer reviewed journal AgBioForum reports that farmers using the technology increased their income by US$27 billion during the period 1996 to 2004 with significant, additional environmental benefits delivered.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/50551/swiss-vote-to-ban-gm-crops-deprives-farmers-of-choice.html