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Government moves to prevent Welsh and Scottish GM crop veto

The Government is considering unprecedented steps under the devolution agreement with Scotland and Wales to ensure that they accept GM crops, the Independent on Sunday reports today [1]. Friends of the Earth has urged the devolved administrations to not cave in to Government bullying.

Last week the Government gave qualified approval to the commercial growing of ChardonLL - a type of GM maize [2]. But before it can be grown by UK farmers, it must be placed on the National List of the Varieties (the seed list), which requires the agreement of all the UK 's administrations. The Welsh and Scots are known to be reluctant to do this because they want to protect their conventional and organic farmers from GM contamination.

According to today's Independent on Sunday, the Government "made it clear last week that the devolved governments could not be allowed to have a veto on growing the maize." If agreement isn't reached, a joint ministerial committee to try and resolve the issue could be invoked for the first time. And "If even this failed to reach agreement, sources said, Mr Blair, whose commitment to technology remains undiminished, could impose legislation at Westminster ".

In a separate development, Government plans to keep the Welsh and Scottish administrations happy by offering to advise on establishing 'voluntary' GM free zones, collapsed following a survey of Scottish maize growers which revealed that nine out of ten would ignore this. (Sunday Herald 14th March).

Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner Pete Riley said:

"Attempts to ride roughshod over Welsh and Scottish fears about GM maize would be outrageous. Last week the Government ignored public opinion and scientific uncertainties over GM. Now it seems that it is prepared to put the interests of the biotech firms ahead of the democratic process. The Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament must not cave in to Government bullying."

Friends of the Earth Cymru director Julian Rosser said:

"The Welsh Assembly must stand firm. It has made it perfectly clear that it will protect our food, farming and environment from GM pollution. Wales must stand up for the vast majority of people that don't want GM throughout the country, and refuse to allow GM maize to be added to the national seed list."

Friends of the Earth Scotland's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren said:

"It is now decision time for the Scottish Executive on GM. The Executive has claimed that it would rather not see Scots farmers growing GM crops. If this is the case then ministers must refuse to allow GM maize to be added to the UK national seed list. With the European elections only a few months away the electorate is unlikely to forget in a hurry if Scottish Labour and LibDems fail to stand up for public opinion and the environment on this issue".

Notes

[1] http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=501025

[2] The Government said that it believed that Chardon LL should be grown in the UK provided it was grown in the same way as it was in the Government's GM crop trials.

ChardonLL is a fodder crop for cattle which is tolerant to the weed killer, Liberty , through genetic modification. The maize received GM approval in 1998 just before the EU's de facto moratorium on GM commercialisation started.

When the Government attempted to allow GM crops to go onto the national seed list in 2000, over 220 individuals and groups objected. This led to a public hearing, which lasted for several weeks. During the hearing evidence was presented on the safety of the maize for cattle, problems with the science underpinning the application from Bayer CropScience, concerns about cross pollination and the poor performance of the seed in UK conditions.