Proposals for GM crops launched (UK 2006)
Outrage as number of GM trials doubles (UK 2001)
GM Pollen Found in Beehives Three Miles from Trial Site (UK 1999)
BBC, 20 July 2006 Every country in the EU is undergoing a consultation on GM
Genetically modified crops grown in the UK would have to be separated from non-GM fields by at least 35m (114ft), under proposals announced by ministers.
Strict rules
No commercial GM crops are currently grown in the UK.
The new proposals, launched by Defra on Thursday, seeks to find ways to minimise unwanted mixing of GM and non-GM crops if and when the EU aproves biotech varieties.
Co-existence means exactly what it says, that different forms of agriculture will need to find ways of existing together
Professor Philip Dale
Other EU countries are going through similar consultations.
Defra's suggestions set minimum separation distances for any GM crops grown in England, ranging from 35m (114ft) for oilseed rape to 110m (361ft) for maize grown for human consumption.
They are designed to minimise unwanted mixing of varieties by cross-pollination or the dispersal of seed.
Defra is also seeking views on whether there should be a public crop register, and how to compensate non-GM farmers for any financial losses that might arise from the unwanted presence of GM material in their crops.
Launching the report, environment minister Ian Pearson said the government's top priority was to protect consumers and the environment.
"We have a strict EU regime in place which ensures only GM crops that are safe for human health and the environment could be grown in the UK," he said.
It is important that farmers have a choice of options available to them
Professor Guy Poppy
"No GMs suitable for UK conditions have met this requirement so far, and today's proposals are not a green light for GM crops."
But he said the government had a responsibility to be fully prepared if crops which met the safety criteria were developed and grown in the UK in future.
"That's why strict separation distances will be enforced so that organic and conventional farmers don't lose out financially and people can make a choice between GM and non-GM products," he added.
Complex issue
Some scientists are welcoming the consultation exercise.
Professor Philip Dale from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, a leading plant research centre, said various groups had been debating the issue for five years or more, so the principles were well understood.
Paul Brown The Government decided last week to press ahead with 96 new trials of
genetically modified crops this spring, but unexpectedly refused to segregate
them from conventional crops, outraging farmers and environmentalists.
The move to double the number of sites from the current 48 will be seized on by
anti-GM campaigners who will view the increase as a green light to the
biotechnology industry to pursue its controversial research.
Ignoring protests, ministers accepted that the trials will contaminate
conventional crops nearby, leaving the Government open to
damage claims from farmers whose crops may be unsaleable as a result.
Pleas by the organic and environmental lobby to leave 3km exclusion zones around
GM crops to protect conventional varieties were rejected. The Ministry of
Agriculture has increased the maximum margin from 50m to 100m. The agriculture
minister, Baroness Hayman, accepted that this would contaminate conventional
crops by up to 1%.
This could still render many farmers' crops unsaleable, since all big British
supermarkets now refuse to take GM contaminated food - or produce from animals
fed on GM crops.
Organic farmers have warned Michael Meacher, the environment
minister, and Baroness Hayman that they could be put out of business unless the
field margins were increased to 3km. They reject claims that the contamination
would be 1% or less. The Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee said it
could easily reach 5%.
Last year hundreds of farmers were forced to destroy crops after they had
inadvertently planted contaminated seed from Canada. The seed company, Advanta,
had not known the oil seed rape was contaminated, and claimed that it had been
pollinated from more than two miles away - something the ministry had thought
impossible.
The Government hopes that GM
oil seed rape and sugar beet plantings will begin next month, and maize in
April. The purpose of the research is to check on cross-contamination of crops
and the effect of GM crops on weeds and wildlife.
Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth said: "It is outrageous that farmers are
going to be unprotected from these trials, and beekeepers exposed to GM pollen
in honey.
"We have already seen that bees can travel back to the hive three miles with
contaminated rape pollen - and wind can blow pollen a long way. Farmers are
bound to be contaminated. Does this mean the public will have no choice but to
eat GM food after all?" Lucy Ward Scientists have found genetically modified pollen in beehives nearly three miles
from an official trial site, according to research released last week. The findings are the first
published monitoring results of GM pollen from a farm-scale trial site and show GM pollen travelling
further than previously detected. The research also reveals the scale of the threat the trials pose to
non-GM and organic farmers, beekeepers and the wider environment and could lead to a drastic revision
of government guidelines that require buffer zones of 50 metres between GM and conventional crops.
The errant pollen was found during a GM monitoring and analysis programme conducted in June and July
by the national pollen research unit at University College, Worcester, and a bee specialist on
behalf of Friends of the Earth and BBC's Newsnight around Model Farm near Watlington, Oxfordshire.
The study showed that all six bee hives monitored, which were located between 500 metres and 4.5
kilometres from the GM oil seed rape crop, were found to contain GM pollen. Airborne GM pollen was
found up to 475 metres from the trial site. The environment minister, Michael Meacher, last
week issued the Government's most strongly worded commitment to ban commercial growing of GM crops
if trials indicated a risk to people or the environment. He insisted that the Government's policy
of permitting crop trials was sensible and right, and would prove popular. But he promised: "There
will be no commercial planting in the UK unless and until we are convinced that we have enough
information to be sure that there is no risk to the human food chain and no damage to the
environment." The Government has already been forced to admit that trials of winter oilseed rape
were illegal, after a court challenge by Friends of the Earth showed the rules on consent for
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copyright owner. Proposals for GM crops launched (UK)
Environmentalists warn of possible contamination from unsegregated test sites
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5201196.stm
(READ THE OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION! 114 feet is absurd - it is well-documented the GMO pollen can travel distances of several miles)
The measure is designed to minimise crop mixing should the European Union approve cultivation of GM crops.
Other proposals that appear in the UK government consultation paper include a public biotech crop register.
Pressure groups say the measures will not give consumers the choice of eating GM-free food.
Sue Mayer of Genewatch UK said the proposals were designed to limit "contamination" of non-GM crops to 0.9%.
European regulations mean that foods containing more than 0.9% of genetically modified ingredients have to be labelled as GM produce, even if farmers had set out to grow conventional varieties.
"Under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) proposals, GM contamination of non-GM crops would be the norm, and a genuine GM-free choice won't be possible," said Dr Mayer.
"Another key question is the extent to which it is going to be possible to enforce and police any co-existence measures, particularly for crops such as oilseed rape which are grown on a large scale."
Outrage as number of GM trials doubles (UK)
Environmentalists warn of possible contamination from unsegregated test sites
The Guardian Weekly 15-2-2001, page 10 GM Pollen Found in Beehives Three Miles from (UK) Trial Site
The Guardian Weekly 7-10-1999, page 13