AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Greenpeace said Thursday it had recorded 39 instances of genetically modified crops spreading improperly in 2007, and called on governments to fix international rules to hold the manufacturers liable for damages.

The Amsterdam-based environmental organization opposes all genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, arguing that they pose unknown risks.

Doreen Stabinsky, a U.S. geneticist working on Greenpeace's anti-GMO campaign, said the report dealt with several kinds of «contamination,» including cases of crops that have not yet been approved for release escaping into the wild.

More commonly, she said, crops approved for use in one place had spread elsewhere. Greenpeace activists boarded a barge in Rotterdam on Thursday which they said contained a shipment of genetically modified rice. They hung a sign reading «US GM Rice Go Home.
Since the European Union settled a trade dispute with the U.S. and began accepting GMO crops in 2003, two maize varieties have been approved for cultivation in Europe. Other biotech seeds are still awaiting approval.

Greenpeace said the 39 instances it recorded in 24 countries in 2007 together with British organization GeneWatch UK were likely «just the tip of the iceberg. "Most of the contamination involved such staple crops as rice and maize, but also included soy, cotton, canola, papaya and fish," Greenpeace said in a statement.

Stabinsky said the organization hoped to draw attention to the issue two weeks before an international meeting in Colombia, where governments will meet to negotiate details of the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

The U.S. is not one of the 103 countries to ratify the treaty, and Greenpeace said the U.S., Japan and New Zealand oppose fixing any international law on liability for damages caused by GMOs.
On the Net
www.gmcontaminationregister.org