A field of organic crops
The Government today announced the location of 35 trial sites for spring-sowed GM maize, as part of its controversial 'farm scale trials' programme. This follows the publication of oilseed rape and sugar beet sites in January. Since then, the sites of two oilseed rape trials have been changed and one sugar beet site has been added, bringing the total number of GM trial sites in the UK this year to 80. Sowing of the maize is expected to start at the end of April, depending on weather and soil conditions.
Greenpeace calls for the trials to be cancelled immediately. They are a cynical and expensive misuse of science by the UK Government and the biotech industry. They will not answer the majority of concerns about GM technology. They also pose unacceptable environmental risks. For example, English Nature in Canada recently discovered plants grown from spilled GM seeds that have become resistant to several commonly used broad-spectrum herbicides, in effect becoming "superweeds".
