Farm Scale Trials
Genetically modified (GM) crops are to be planted at 44 new locations around the UK this spring, the government has announced today.
GM oilseed rape is to be sown at 27 sites, and GM fodder and sugar beet is to be planted at a further 17 sites - in the latest phase of the controversial 'farm-scale trials'. A full list of sites, including six-figure grid references, is available to download here (file prepared as a pdf).
These GM crops pose a huge risk for the environment and human health - as a form of living and reproducing pollution that cannot be contained. If the trials go ahead, the contamination of traditional crops, the soil and the food chain are inevitable - by the spread of pollen, soil contamination, shared farm machinery, food processing and the use of GM crops in animal feed
Already, GM crops have been grown at 178 farm-scale trial sites across the UK - a major environmental and economic threat to local communities, who stand to lose their GM-free status, organic status, land value and livelihoods as a result.
And there will be further trials of GM maize - also this year. The locations of these are to be announced by the government in March.
Greenpeace calls for the trials to be cancelled immediately. A cynical charade, providing an excuse for the commercialisation of GM, they do not consider the direct impact of GM crops on the environment. They are also wasting
