Government announces final GM trial sites

8 July 2002

The Government has announced the locations for the latest, and last, round of GM farm-scale evaluations. There are 18 GM oil seed rape sites - 16 in England and two in Scotland. The results of the trials are due to be published next year.

"This final round of GM experiments contains some very familiar parish names. Many have already hosted trials without taking into account the concerns of local residents and neighbouring farmers. Clearly the biotech industry is struggling to find new farmers to take part, despite the incentives on offer," said Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner Pete Riley. "The Government has agreed to hold a national debate on whether GM and non GM crops can co-exist. At the same time they are allowing trials to take place that will spread pollen far and wide, threatening neighbouring crops, honey and the environment with GM contamination. Why is the Government allowing these crops to be grown when the market for GM crops in the UK has completely collapsed?"

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