UK farmers get green light for GM rapeseed trials
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: UK
Author: Veronica Brown
Britain's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) had told farmers on August 15 to hold off planting GM rapeseed under its three-year test programme after seeds from biotech firm Aventis CropScience Ltd were found to be contaminated with unauthorised seeds.
"We've been through all the seeds for all the forthcoming Field Scale Evaluations and they are not contaminated," a DEFRA spokesman told Reuters.
"In light of the test results, Aventis have been authorised to go ahead with sowings of winter oilseed rape which will complete the farm scale evaluation programme," DEFRA added in a statement.
It said that 16 sites in England and two in Scotland would be sown with the gene-modified rapeseed which is tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium.
The disclosure of small impurities in the Aventis field trials, which made the rapeseed resistant to two antibiotics, prompted environment groups to demand an immediate halt to the UK test programme.
PUBLIC WARY
Public opinion in Europe is wary of gene-altered crops after a string of unrelated food safety scares, including mad cow disease, and there is a three-year de-facto ban in place on approvals of new GM varieties.
Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth said the government's response to the affair was inadequate and not enough information had been released.
"If DEFRA want to convince the public that Aventis seeds are what it says on the can then they should have published the results of the analysis in full and the outcome of their investigation into the contamination of the spring oilseed rape seeds," the group said.
"The latest analysis was carried out by the GM Inspectorate, the very people who failed to spot the original contamination," it added.
The contamination of the seeds has prompted Environment Minister Michael Meacher to break with Britain's broadly GM-sympathetic line, saying the country was being pressured by the United States to allow commercial planting of GM crops.
Meacher also said the government's field trials might not give an accurate picture of the impact GM crops might have on the environment.
Aventis CropScience Ltd was recently purchased by Bayer AG from Franco-German drugs group Aventis SA. The company will be known in Britain from Monday as Bayer CropScience Ltd.
A DEFRA investigation continues into whether Aventis CropScience Ltd breached any laws when the contamination occurred. No-one at Aventis CropScience was immediately avaialable for comment.
