Precautionary Priority in Approving Imports of Genetically Improved Commodity Crops

Abstract

The "precautionary approach" to genetically improved organisms set forth in the newly issued biosafety protocol can be interpreted as: (1) limiting the use of certain genetically modified crops in agriculture pending further study of potentially disastrous ecological impacts, and (2) encouraging the use of certain genetically modified crops in certain contexts where the crops decrease the pace at which humanity is destroying biological diversity. To achieve the ambitious objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Biosafety Protocol should be interpreted as giving priority to adoption of innovative agricultural technologies that promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. As a result, the protocol should compel the rapid approval with postmarket surveillance of the low-risk genetically improved row crops that are exported in commodities shipments (in particular, corn and soybeans) that provide nations struggling with food security with the tools needed to meet goals for conserving biological diversity and assuring food security. Careful planning for ensuring food security and the efficient distribution of commodities will reduce the pressure that global hunger can place on conservation efforts. The single greatest threat to biodiversity in the 21st Century is likely to be the pressure to meet the needs of the billions of new human beings arriving on this planet, all of whom will need to be fed as efficiently as possible. Genetically improved crops flowing through the bulk commodities system can increase the quantity and ecological sustainability of global food production. To slow the intertwined downward spiral of hunger and biodiversity loss, the world will require efficiency of food distribution and increasing the productivity of the land currently cleared for use. The role of the bulk commodities shipments and the recombinant DNA process in promoting management of biodiversity should be documented to assist parties to the Convention in meeting its objectives. Commodities imports that "may contain" genetically improved crops should be permitted to continue to be freely traded without special documentation recording the details of GMO content. This nondiscriminatory treatment of the rDNA process should be compelled under the precautionary approach to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.