Greenpeace today attacked as irresponsible Government plans to plough ahead with open air GM trials despite the knowledge that GM pollen will inevitably contaminate surrounding countryside.
The Government announced 25 new sites to trial winter oil seed rape engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium, which is ordinarily banned for winter use. The announcement coincides with the release of a House of Commons Agriculture Select Committee report on the cross-contamination of non-GM crops by GM pollen in Canada earlier this year.
Greenpeace campaigner Andy Tait said: "The biggest separation distance here is between the Government and the public. The public do not want to eat GM or see it grown in our countryside yet the Government insists on introducing it by stealth".
"What the Canadian cross contamination incident showed is that, despite the assurances of British scientists, GM pollen can spread at least eighty times further than the UK trials allowed for.
Michael Meacher knows this and indeed has admitted in Parliament that "It is false to pretend that there is any distance which is going to prevent some contamination." 1
Andy Tait continued: "It is totally irresponsible to be allowing these trials to go ahead when they know that the release of GM pollen will affect the crops of the majority of farmers who want to stay GM free and potentially wreck the rapidly growing organic farming industry."
Greenpeace also attacked claims that the current trials will answer once and for all whether GM is 'safe'.
Andy Tait said: "The fact is these so called scientific trials only look at the effect of heavy duty weedkillers on surrounding wildlife. They don't examine issues such as genetic flow in soil."
Controversially the new trials will test Winter Oilseed Rape resistant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium (1), the use of which is usually banned between September and March because of the hazards it poses to the environment and water supplies.
Greenpeace also attacked Government claims that the sites chosen are representative of UK agriculture. Andy Tait said: "Anyone looking closely at this list will see that nearly half the autumn plantings will be made on the same farms or in the same villages as previous trials. This is despite huge financial incentives being offered to farmers of up to £0,000 per trial site (2). The general farming community know that there is no point growing products the public don't want".
Notes to editors:
(1)Oral answer to Joan Ruddock MP, House of Commons, 14th June 2000.
(2)Produced by Aventis and sold under the trade name "Liberty".
(3)SOURCE: farmers weekly article, 24 March 2000.
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Greenpeace press office on: 020 7865 8255
