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Monsanto GM fine "pathetic"
17 February 1999
Friends of the Earth has criticised as “pathetic” the £17,000 fine (plus £6,200 costs) imposed today on biotech giant Monsanto for breaking safety guidelines at a trial site of genetically modified oilseed rape. The case was heard by Caistor Magistrates in Lincolnshire. The Magistrates Court could only impose a £20,000 maximum fine. If the case had been heard by the Crown Court there would have been no limit to the fine imposed. FOE has slammed the Health and Safety Executive for not requesting that the case be heard in the Crown Court because of the seriousness of the incident.
The breach happened at a site that was testing the commercial potential of the GM crop(i.e yield, oil content etc). Under the five year freeze proposed by FOE and dozens of other organisations, test trials should be restricted to those necessary for assessing environmental safety.
FOE has also revealed that the Government and HSE have “sadly failed” properly to monitor GM trial sites.
. Of the 49 sites inspected between April and October 1998, five had not complied with their consents;
. Only around one third of licensed GM trial sites were monitored in 1997/1998
. There are only two inspectors actively involved in inspection work. There were over three hundred test sites last year.
Pete Riley, Senior Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said
“This is a pathetic fine. To a company as large as Monsanto it is less a slap on the wrist than a tickle with a legal feather. This is not the first time that safety rules have been broken. Monitoring of test sites is feeble or non-existent.Commercial trials of GM crops must be stopped. The big biotech companies must stop playing Russian roulette with the British countryside. The Government must bow to the will of the British people and call a five year freeze on GM crop licenses.”
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
