Lake District National Park first to go GM-free22 July 2003
Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) became the first National Park to vote to go GM-free. The decision was warmly welcomed by Friends of the Earth, which launched a GM-free Britain campaign to highlight levels of local authority opposition to GM.
The Lake District vote follows the publication on 21 July of the Government's official GM science review, which revealed the many gaps and uncertainties in scientific knowledge of GM crops and food. The Government is coming under increasing pressure from local authorities to refuse to allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK.
A number of local authorities have already taken steps to go GM-free, and more are poised to follow suit later with votes taking place at Somerset and Cumbria county councils in July.
The LDNPA voted to protect its status as a GM-free area and agreed to apply to prevent GM crops from being grown in the Lake District (using European legislation), to ban GM crops on land over which it has control and to adopt a GM-free policy for services such as school meals.
"We are delighted that the Lake District National Park has taken this issue so seriously," said South Lakeland Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner, Marianne Bennett. "The authority has a clear duty to safeguard the park's environment - GM crops pose a real threat to wildlife as well as farmers, such as organic producers, who want to keep their crops GM-free. By voting for a precautionary approach, the Lake District National Park has shown it wants to protect our environment and farming from GM pollution now and in the future".
"This is a fantastic result and a first for National Parks," said Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner, Clare Oxborrow. "We very much hope that others will now follow suite. Many local authorities across the country have already taken steps to go GM-free. This is more evidence that people do not want their food, farming and environment contaminated with GM pollution, and another reason why the Government must refuse to allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK".
The Government will decide later this year whether to grow GM crops commercially in the UK and is conducting a national debate. Two strands of the debate have already reported; the cost benefit review concluded that there are no benefits in growing GM crops in the short term, and the science review highlights the many uncertainties over long term impact on human health and the environment. The public debate, which will report in September, is likely to confirm strong consumer opposition to GM.
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