GM trials: expansion equals contamination28 February 2001
The massive rise in GM farm scale trial sites, announced today, will lead to the widespread contamination of food and the countryside, warned Friends of the Earth. The livelihoods of neighbouring farmers and beekeepers, who are meeting the demand for GM-free food, will be threatened. FOE also slammed the recent government decision to extend separation distances around GM crops as a deception. The new distances are designed to allow up to one per cent of neighbouring crops to be contaminated, and not to prevent it totally as the public demands. Friends of the Earth also warned farmers and bee-keepers near the trials that GM material will be collected by honey bees and could escape into neighbouring crops. In addition, GM material could jump into soil bacteria and contaminate farmland, permanently affecting land value.
Legal liability for GM contamination of food, crops and honey has not been resolved. The UK Government has so far failed to push for European legislation to deal with liability. FOE is calling on all political parties to pledge themselves to introducing legislation in their election manifestos. A bill making the biotechnology companies fully liable for any harm to human health, animal health, biodiversity and economic damage to farmers was presented to Parliament last year by Alan Simpson MP. It received a second reading. But the Government did not support it and it failed.
"Separation distances are entirely inadequate, and GM contamination will creep into our food," said Pete Riley Senior Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth. "Perhaps this is what the Government intends. These crops threaten the livelihoods of those that are meeting the massive demand for GM-free food . They also represent a long-term risk to the environment."
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