Say no to unnecessary GM trials3 August 2010
Genetically Modified (GM) crops aren't grown commercially in the UK. However, since 2007 there have been trials of GM crops in the UK.
New trial of GM wheat proposed
One of the UK's largest plant research companies has submitted an application to test a new breed of anti-aphid wheat. If approved it will run from March 2012 to October 2013. It will take place at Rothamsted's experimental farm at Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
Given that wheat is a staple crop, the development of GM varieties is particularly controversial. We're concerned that public money is being spent on research where there's no public acceptance or market.
Clare Oxborrow, Food campaigner, Friends of the Earth
Genetically modified potatoes planted in UK fields
In 2008 Leeds University were granted permission to grow potatoes engineered to resist cyst nematodes near Tadcaster, Yorkshire. In 2010 the John Innes Research Centre near Norwich started trials into blight-resistant potatoes.
There have been protests directed against all of these sites. The Cambridge trial was uprooted by protesters in 2007 and the Tadcaster field was targeted in 2008.
Farmers also expressed their concerns because trials pose a threat to their borage crops, which are planted as companion plants to help other crops grow. They fear massive financial losses if the GM trial goes ahead. Beekeepers take bees to the fields to pollinate borage. But because companies like Sainsbury's won't buy honey from bees exposed to GM crops, they won't take their bees to fields within six miles of the trials.
These trials are ongoing.
Take action
- Support the local campaigns
View Rothamsted Research's application to trial anti-aphid wheat and find out how to object.
- Write to supermarkets and food companies
If there's no market for GM food, companies making and selling food will maintain their policies of not using GM ingredients. But supermarkets and food companies need to hear that their customers are still concerned about GM. These trials provide an ideal opportunity to remind them. To make this easier there's a sample letter for you to use.
- Support the alternatives
Many varieties of potato are blight resistant due to conventional breeding. But some of these are less suitable for the food processing industry - too knobbly or the wrong texture. Support farmers and growers producing these varieties - try visiting farmers markets and farm shops because they're more likely to stock them.
Further information
For more detailed information on the GM potato trials, and why we are opposing them please visit our resource page.
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