GM separation distances must be 5km30 January 2002
Friends of the Earth has welcomed Environment Minister Michael Meacher's promise that the Government will take public concern into account before making any decision on whether to allow the commercial development of GM crops.
Friends of the Earth is challenging the Government to increase the separation distance around the GM oilseed rape crop trials to 5km to safeguard neighbouring crops from unacceptable levels of GM contamination. The current separation distance between GM oilseed rape and conventional varieties is 50 metres.
The Government is due to announce the next round of farm scale evaluations (FSEs) of GM crops soon.
Earlier this month Environment Minister Margaret Beckett said that, "the separation distances for the farm scale evaluations have been set to ensure that cross-pollination is a maximum of 1 per cent. However... there is a case for separation distances to be greater so as to ensure a maximum of, for example, 0.1 per cent cross-pollination."
To achieve this Friends of the Earth estimates that separation distances should be at least 5 km. Last year the EC said that a 5km separation distance would be needed to ensure that oilseed rape seed production achieved a contamination threshold of 0.3 per cent..
"GM crops should not be grown in the UK against the wishes of the public. We are delighted that the Government now appears to accept this principle, and that there will be a public debate on this issue," added Bebb. "The Government now admits that the separation distances around the GM crop trials are not large enough to protect neighbouring crops and honey from significant levels of GM contamination. When the new GM oilseed rape trials are announced
the separation distance must be at least 5km. Anything less will be inadequate."
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