Illegal GM contamination threat28 July 2003
The Government's GM advisors have revealed that farmers who grow conventional oil seed rape on land where GM oil seed rape has previously been grown are likely to produce crops that are so heavily contaminated with GM material that it would be unlawful to sell them in Europe.
Minutes released by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), reveal that after two years, farmers that have taken part in the GM trials "could legally plant conventional rape but in doing so it would not be possible to control GM volunteers. Preliminary results from new research had shown that up to 5% of the crop which emerges could be GM volunteers, thus making it potentially unlawful to market the crop." GM oil seed rape is not licensed for sale in the UK. EU rules allows up to 0.5 per cent GM contamination from a crop that has not been licensed in Europe. Above that level it would be illegal to sell it.
On 25 July, the Government issued a press statement saying that farmers that have taken part in the Farm Scale Evaluations of GM crops had been warned not to grow conventional oil seed rape on land where a GM variety had previously been grown in the coming planting season commencing August. The release neglected to mention that the crops produced risked GM contamination levels ten times more than legally allowed.
Advice offered by the EU's Scientific Committee on Plants in 2001 suggested that a five year gap should elapse between GM oilseed crops and non-GM seed production and that "volunteers may arise for up to 10 years, possibly longer".
Friends of the Earth has written to the Government to ask:
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How many years should elapse before it is safe to grow conventional oil seed rape on land that has hosted GM oil seed rape trials;
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What measures have been taken to ensure that GM oil seed rape has not been, and will not be, grown on land that has also hosted GM oil seed rape trials, but not as part of the GM farm scale evaluations. Experimental crops have been grown on huge tracts of land, sometimes bigger than FSE trials since 1997.
"Fields where GM oil seed rape has been grown are so heavily contaminated that farmers won't be able to grow conventional oil seed rape in them for years to come," said Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner, Pete Riley. "If they do they are likely to produce crops that can't legally be sold in Europe. The Government must take steps to ensure that all farmers that have grown GM oil seed rape, and not just the ones that have taken part in the farm scale trials, are banned from planting rape in these heavily polluted fields.
"This news highlights the threat GM crops pose to our food, farming and environment. The Government must not allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK."
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