Top insurer says no to GM pollution cover17 February 2000
The UK's leading farm insurance company will not offer farmers insurance against GM pollution. The decision by NFU Mutual is likely to be of major concern to farmers whose neighbours are running GM farm scale trials.
Friends of the Earth obtained a copy of a letter from the NFU Mutual to a farmer in Lincolnshire. It says that loss of GM-free status, the potential loss of crops through cross- pollination and the loss of the value of farmland through GM pollution is something the company cannot offer insurance against.
The issue was due to be raised in Parliament by Alan Simpson MP (Lab - Nottingham South) who recently presented the Genetically Modified Food and Producer Liability Bill to MPs. This Bill, which is being supported by FOE, places strict liability for harm caused to the environment and human health on the companies releasing or selling the GM crops or food. It also requires the companies to ensure that they have adequate insurance cover and to create a compensation fund.
"In the headlong rush to get GM crops in our fields and GM food on our plates the crucial issue of liability has been ignored. The Government must act and tell us who is going to pick up the bill if this new technology damages peoples health, livelihoods or the environment. The current Government position of doing nothing cannot continue," said Friends of the Earth Biotechnology Campaigner Pete Riley.
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