GM crop trials undermined by new US evidence25 June 2002
Startling TV news from Newsnight showed agricultural experts revealing that between 75 per cent and 90 per cent of US GM maize growers are using a product called Liberty Atz - a mixture of Aventis' weed killer glufosinate ammonium and Atrazine, the traditional herbicide used on maize crops.
Atrazine has been a problem pesticide for decades, and washes readily into rivers and groundwater. It is an EU Red List pesticide and is on the EU Priority List for hormone disrupting effects in animals.
During Seed Listing Hearings in the UK (held after an intervention by Friends of the Earth) Aventis/Bayer claimed that one of the main benefits of GM maize will be the substitution of atrazine with glufosinate ammonium. Company documents available from Friends of the Earth state that "glufosinate ammonium has a safer Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) assessment than atrazine" and "is not as mobile in the soil as atrazine and so will not have the same effects on watercourses as atrazine" and "has a significantly better environmental profile than atrazine".
"Aventis's pro GM maize propaganda has been thoroughly undermined by Newsnight's findings. In the US, farmers were sold GM crops with a promise that atrazine would not be needed. But the reality seems to be very different. Because glufosinate is not as effective as Aventis has claimed, we are threatened with a new regime combining the worst of GM and the worst of the old system. Meanwhile, the credibility of the Government's Farm Scale Trials has been further undermined," said Friends of the Earth food and farming campaigner Pete Riley. "The public have been told that the GM crop trials will show how GM crops will be grown in farming practice. But this has now been shown to be nothing more than a con trick."
Get these updates first
If you would like these news updates to be emailed to you as soon as they come out, then join our real food mailing list.
Register Here
News
