The UK government’s announcement yesterday [Monday] of the locations for the latest, and last, round of GM farm-scale evaluations, has been slammed by environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth (FoE).
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There are 18 GM oil seed rape sites altogether. Sixteen in England, and two sites in Scotland. The results of the trials are due to be published next year.
Pete Riley, GM campaigner at FoE said: “This final round of GM experiments contain some very familiar parish names. Many have already hosted trials without taking into account the concerns of local residents and neighbouring farmers. Clearly the biotech industry is struggling to find new farmers to take part, despite the incentives on offer.
“The government has agreed to hold a national debate on whether GM and non GM crops can co-exist. At the same time they are allowing trials to take place that will spread pollen far and wide, threatening neighbouring crops, honey and the environment with GM contamination. Why is the government allowing these crops to be grown when the market for GM crops in the UK has completely collapsed?”
FoE explains that pollen is known to travel large distances. Last month, Science Magazine reported that Australian researchers had found that fields of oilseed rape could cross-pollinate with other crops three kilometres away. The separation distance in the UK between the GM oil seed rape sites and conventional crops is only 50 metres.
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