The Dutch Approach to Safety Governance of GM Agriculture - Governing Risk in GM Agriculture - page 95

Europe. 19 Despite early expectations, their commercialization is practi-
cally nonexistent in most EU nations, in contrast to their rapidly increas-
ing commercialization in the United States, Asian, and South American
countries, and other nations. 20 The European situation is mainly due to
environmentalists and consumer groups who vigorously question the sus-
tainability and social desirability of agri-biotechnology. This has caused
policy makers to neglect weighing GMO benefits and utility against dis-
advantages and risks.
Many in Europe also strongly object to the monopolistic business
practices of major GM seed producers. For example, Monsanto patents
its GM seeds for Roundup Ready crops and has brought many lawsuits
against farmers who do not follow its dictate that they must purchase
new seeds for such crops from Monsanto every year, destroying the tra-
ditional farmer's practice of saving seeds from year to year. 21 Activities
by other GM seed companies have also sparked widespread criticism in
Europe and undercut claims by companies that GM crops will aid farm-
ers in developing countries. Among other objections, some opponents
have claimed that although pest-resistant GM plants may be successful
against their target pests, they attract secondary pests, which attack the
GM crops. Thus, the claim is made that GM pest-resistant crop plants
require the same amount of chemical pesticide due to the secondary pest
issue. 22 However, other studies have demonstrated that growing such
crops leads to reduced pesticide use. 23

19 G. Gaskell, Science Policy and Society: The British Debate over GM Agriculture, 15
Current Opinion in Biotechnology 241-245 (2004).
20 C. James, Executive Summary of Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM
Crops: 2005, 2005, (ISAAA 2005).
21 K. H. Madsen & P. Sandøe, Ethical Reflections on Herbicide-Resistant Crops, 61 Pest
Management Science , 318-325 (2005).
22 http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July06/Bt.cotton.China.ssl.html

(last time ac-

cessed August 26, 2008).
23 M. G. Cattaneo et al., Farm-scale Evaluation of the Impacts of Transgenic Cotton on
Biodiversity, Pesticide Use, and Yield, 103 Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science 7571-7576 (2006).