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- Government in shambles over GM mistake
- 2000
- Advanta admits separation distances in UK far closer than Canada
- Advanta to pay up
- Britain's babies back baby food ban
- Buy it from farmers' markets
- Buy your festive feast from local farmers
- Cadbury's admits its chocolate contains lindane
- Call for new biotech commission to halt spread of GM seeds
- Children get raw deal from Government
- Euro MPs fail GM Test
- Farm scale trials must be called off
- First UK organic beer festival held in Birmingham
- FOE responds to Prince Philip's confidence about GM foods
- Food Standards Agency could do better
- GM farm scale trial is useless
- GM farm scale trials threaten UK honey
- GM farmers pull out of trials
- GM scientist deserves sack says Friends of the Earth
- GM trials are a farce
- Government gambling with countryside
- Government in chaos over GM seeds
- Government in shambles over GM mistake
- Government prepares to decide commercial approval for GM crops before trial ends
- Government proposes to trash GM trials
- Hormone disrupting chemicals found in baby food
- Iceland to stock organic food at non-organic prices
- Illegal GM ingredients found in supermarkets
- Lindane is banned - nearly
- More GM crops set for Wales
- MPs debate new law on GM liability
- New fears over impact of GM crops on birdlife
- Public wants pesticides banned from supermarket food
- Scientists slam GM research
- Supermarket Real Food sham
- Top insurer says no to GM pollution cover
- Wales can ban GM
- Welsh agriculture secretary bottles out of Assembly decision on GM
- Aventis criticised by Government barrister
- Baby Blair greeted with hamper of Real Food
- Biosafety Protocol Agreed
- Biotech giant clams up at GM Seed List Hearing
- Call for pesticide tax
- Church advisers say no to GM crop trials
- Diners still worry about GM food
- FOE slams Krebs over organic food
- GM contamination inevitable admits Meacher
- GM food scare hits US taco lovers
- GM seed fiasco means farmers start to dig up crops
- GM-free diet for Iceland livestock
- Government GM policy in tatters
- Government set to give go-ahead to commercial licensing
- Hold on the milk says top scientist
- Kiss of death for GM seed
- Pesticides level rise in fruit AND veg
- Promising green speech from Blair?
- Shock admission that GM crops are already growing in the UK
- Supermarkets back organic farming bill
Government in shambles over GM mistake28 April 2000
Friends of the Earth (FOE) Cymru has discovered that there were plans to grow a genetically modified (GM) crop in Wales as part of the Government's farm scale trials into the effects of GM crops on the environment. After a day of confusion and initial denials, Welsh Assembly officials contacted the UK Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) admitting it had made a mistake in claiming on its website that the site was in England. The site had never been intended for Wales after all, but for a site just over the English border.
The crop, T25 fodder maize, is the same that Welsh Agriculture Secretary Christine Gwyther recently supported for inclusion on the National Seed List, over-ruling the opinion of the Assembly's Agriculture Committee.
"This has been a complete shambles. DETR now say the trial was never intended to be in Wales, but rather in fields across the border in England. We have now been told that the DETR will be contacting the biotech company concerned, which will either direct the farmer to move the site, or remove his authority to do the trial," said Friends of the Earth Cymru's GM Campaigner Raoul Bhambral. "I am surprised at the complete lack of organisation and coordination being shown here. It does not inspire confidence in the Government's handling of the GM issue. No wonder people up and down the country are demonstrating against the trials. Yet again the farm scale trials are looking like a farce."
Mike German, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly for Wales, commented, "Whether the crops are three inches in Wales or three inches in England the risk of cross pollination remains. When you have a GM trial within metres of the border the implications for Wales' status as a GM-free environment is still the same.
"The sites have been selected without any consultation with local people, and there is no statutory right to object. However, FOE Cymru is urging people to campaign against the trials. A free information pack, outlining how people can oppose these trials, is available from FOE in London (0207 490 1555) or from Friends of the Earth Cymru, 33 The Balcony, Castle Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1BY.
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