Home > Press releases > 2001
05 Dec 2001
The Government has finally told biotech giant Aventis to take action to stop GM weeds growing
without consent in a Lincolnshire field. The GM oilseed rape weeds are now flowering and may
contaminate non-GM oil seed rape plants and wild relatives in the area. The Government was
first alerted to the incident five days ago by FOE, and has spent the last 5 days dithering over
its response.
Friends of the Earth notified the Government last Friday (30 November) that GM 'volunteers'
[1] are growing at a site used earlier in the year in the Government's GM Farm Scale
Evaluations at Witham-on-the-Hill, near Grantham [2]. Biotech company Aventis is legally
responsible for ensuring that this doesn't happen. FOE wrote to the Secretary of State,
Margaret Beckett, urging her to order the immediate destruction of the weeds and to prosecute
Aventis for breaching their consent to release GMOs.
Pete Riley, GM Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"These GM weeds pose a threat to the environment and must be destroyed.
It is astonishing that the Government has taken so long to take any
action. It's little wonder that the public has such little confidence
in the Government's ability to safeguard the environment from GM pollution.
"These GM plants must be destroyed and the company prosecuted. They should also stop the GM industry messing about with our countryside and call a moratorium on the growing of GM crops."
[1] Grid reference TF 043 173
[2] The weeds are re-growth from GM oil seed rape that was grown earlier in the year.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
