Almost all of the companies developing GM Pharm (medicine) and industrial crops are American based. To date, American biotech companies have not been granted licenses to grow GM medicine crops commercially but have been granted ‘research’ permits to grow field trials of GM medicine crops.  Because these research permits are classified as ‘confidential business information’, both the type of GM medicine crops being grown, and the location of the field trial can be kept secret.

In spite of this secrecy a GM medicine crop caused a serious contamination crises in the USA (see also A GM Pharm Crop Contamination Crises in the US) which cost the biotech industry and food retailers vast amounts of money in lawsuits and food recalls.  Since then the biotech industry has lobbied the US government to limit their exposure to lawsuits from GM contamination from GM field trials. On August 2 2002 a White House directive issued by its Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) told the USDA, the FDA and the EPA to create ways that contamination from ‘field tests could be found acceptable’. On November 19^th 2004 the FDA proposed a ‘Guidance for Industry’ which, in effect, protects biotech companies from the consequences of GM contamination from experimental GM field trials. (See www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2004/ANS1327.html.)

In short this ‘Guidance’ says: A GM crop developer voluntarily provides the FDA with answers to two pages of questions which might include the results of two superficial tests on their crop that takes as little as 20 hours to complete.  If crop contamination is later discovered, companies can claim that they have complied with FDA requirements and the agency can declare that their prior ‘evaluation’ shows that the contamination will not cause harm. The biotech industry believes these ‘Guidelines’ effectively free them from legal prosecution if their GM field trails (even medicine crop trials) contaminate the environment or the food chain -  and they are urging the Bush administration to promote these guidelines to the rest of the world!

If the American government adopts this as a policy it could be argued that it is putting the interests of the biotech industry before those of its citizens right to eat safe food. Given the momentum of the GM-free movement, this ‘guidance’ may prompt some of the US states to defy the proposed FDA law and spur various campaign groups to mobilize citizens to take direct action. Such a radical move by the US might also have international repercussions, potentially increasing European concerns about American GM foods being imported into their countries, and widening the differences between the two trading blocks on GM issues to the point where the validity of international trade law is thrown into question.

France, Italy, Spain and the UK have GM medicine crops in field trial stages, but it is very unlikely (given the risks to the environment and the animal and human food chain) that any European country will grant commercial licenses for growing GM medicine crops.  It is also very unlikely that any European government would emulate the American example and allow biotech companies to use field trials as a means of growing these crops commercially. The future of GM Pharm crops in Europe may never develop past the research stage but the technology developed might be marketed to underdeveloped countries whose weak regulatory systems and ill informed populations could make growing GM Pharm crops in the open environment possible.