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Non-GM feed for horses
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Download flyer: GMO Trojan Horse: a wake-up call for Ireland's farm and bloodstock owners
(608kb pdf file)
Owners of Irish farms, horses and stud farms should avoid the use of genetically modified (GM) animal feed, seeds, crops and food. Contamination by such GMOs may significantly impact their health and the future value of their investments from patent infringement and contamination lawsuits, disease, and breeding issues. The Irish bloodstock industry, hunts, and horse owners are normally keen to protect their investments by ensuring their animals are not exposed to environmental pollution from incinerator emissions, straw from crops have been sprayed with toxic weedkillers, and contaminated water and animal feed. Leading stud farms feed their horses on organic feed.
Unlike other forms of pollution, contamination of animals and the environment with live GMOs tends to increase with time.
GMO animal feed is already widespread in Ireland.
Most non-organic Irish animal feed contains GM soya, maize, maize gluten, distillers' grain and rapeseed authorised by the European Food Safety Authority based only on spurious risk assessments by the companies that manufacture them. Greenvale's Gowla brand of horse feeds contains GM ingredients, as do most from Connolly's Red Mills. Glanbia's Gain Feeds strives to avoid GM content in its horse feeds, but admits they may be contaminated. Eclipse haylage horse feed, and all organic feeds should be GM-free.
Please let us know of any Irish and Northern Irish suppliers of non-GM horse feed, by sending an email to us at feed@gmfreeireland.org.
Large quantities of unauthorised GM animal feed containing antibiotic resistance genes have also entered the Irish food chain without detection or labelling. A shipment of 2,500 tonnes of illegal Bt10 GM maize from the USA for Arkady Feeds was intercepted at Greenore port in 2005. No-one knows how many million tonnes of undetected or illegal GM ingredients entered the Irish feed and food chain since 2001.
The use of GMO soya for animal feed is also a fair trade issue. Brazilian GMO soya comes from corporate haciendas hacked from Amazon rainforest, turning indigenous people into landless peasant slave labour, and causing widepread pollution with toxic chemicals. The EC's legalisation of GMO rapeseed for animal feed is an even more dangerous threat. Any spillage will result in the de facto release of a GM crop without required EC and government authorisations. This could irreversibly contaminate Irish broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and turnips within a few seasons, and wipe out organic growers.
Contamination routes for horses
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animal feed contaminated by EC-authorised GM soya, soya flour, maize, maize gluten, distillerís grain and oilseed rape, which carries a GM label;
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animal feed contaminated by unauthorized GM ingredients, which does not carry a GM label;
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GM-contaminated crops and weeds in fields;
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GM-contaminated straw and bedding materials;
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GM pollen blowing in the wind.
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Legal implications
Contamination of animal feed, bedding materials, and pastures by GMO seeds, crops, weeds and pollen will also expose owners to the risk of expensive lawsuits between neighbours, clients, and the giant agribiotech companies which own the patented GMO crops.
Land and bloodstock owners who fail to take preventive action could face the following legal problems:
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GMO patent infringement lawsuits by biotech companies against contaminated farmers and landowners.
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cross-contamination lawsuits by neighbouring landowners who allege contamination by GMO seeds, crops, weeds, and pollen from each otherís land;
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lawsuits by bloodstock buyers claiming that their horses either fail to perform as expected, become sick, or die due to alleged exposure to GMO animal feed, GMO crops, GMO weeds or GMO pollen;
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lawsuits by buyers of land subsequently found to be contaminated with GMO crops, trees, weeds, or superweeds.
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What you can do
We recommend that Irish horse owners and organisations involved with horses promote a non-GM feed policy and also join the GM-free Ireland Network. Please join us now! and
find out you can do.
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