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- Government in chaos over GM seeds
- 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 chaos over GM seeds9 November 2000
Government GM policy was in chaos today when Ministers requested that a public hearing into GM crops be postponed indefinitely.
The hearing was called to hear objections to a Government proposal to allow a type of GM maize to be sold to farmers. Friends of the Earth has called on Aventis, the seed company that owns the GM seed, to withdraw its application.
The postponement call follows revelations that official basic tests on Chardon LL, a type of GM maize, had only been conducted for one year by the French authorities rather than the two required under EU law. The UK Government is now waiting for guidance from the EU Commission, as the defects in the French testing regime have serious EU-wide implications.
The revelation that test data hasn't met legal requirements only came to light after Friends of the Earth and members of the public forced the Government to hold a public hearing into the proposed listing of Chardon LL. During the hearing, expert scientific witnesses have produced evidence that casts severe doubt over the validity of allowing the seed to be listed. They include concerns over the failure to test the GM maize on cows, and suspicious higher death rates among chickens eating the GM maize during trials.
"Once again the Government's GM policy is in chaos. This is a desperate effort to buy time to sort out this mess with the Commission and the biotech industry," said Friends of the Earth Legal Advisor, Peter Roderick. "But even if this latest mistake hadn't occurred we think the weight of scientific evidence against listing is overwhelming. Events should fall on its sword, concede defeat and withdraw its application."
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