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FOE urges local people to oppose GM trials. A threat to the environment and local livelihoods.

5 March 2001

Friends of the Earth is urging local people to oppose GM crop trials planned for your area(see list). FOE is also warning local people that the GM trials, announced last week, pose an unacceptable risk to their environment and are a major threat to the livelihoods of local farmers and beekeepers [1]. FOE has produced a free information pack telling people what they can do to oppose the trials.

FOE is particularly concerned that:
* the GM trials crops have not been designed to stop pollen escaping from the crops.As a result GM contamination is likely to contaminate wild plants and neighbouring crops. This will be of particular concern to farmers who want to produce GM-free food and beekeepers. If their products do become contaminated by GM crops they may find their livelihoods threatened. There is almost no demand for GM food.
* GM material could also jump into soil bacteria and contaminate farmland,permanently affecting land value [2].
* And if GM crops do contaminate neighbouring crops and honey, compensation may be hard to find. So far the Government has failed to resolve the issue of liability. It may be lawyers who benefit most from GM crops.

Carol Kearney, GM Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
“These GM crops pose a threat to both the environment and the livelihoods of neighbouring farmers and beekeepers. There has been no consultation and there is no legal right to object. It's outrageous. However, as we saw last year,local people can successfully campaign to stop these trials from taking place.The countryside has suffered enough over recent years. The biotech industry must not be allowed to gamble with its future.”

To obtain a free GM trials information pack ring 020 7490 1555
[1] Monitoring of pollen movement from a farm scale trial in Oxfordshire in 1999 found pollen in the air at over four times the revised separation distance that the Government announced earlier this month(6th Feb). Honey bees were found to have travelled 4.5km to collect pollen from the same field. Last spring a FOE survey discovered retail honey samples from areas close to GM oilseed test sites to be contaminated with GM pollen.
[2] The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors surveyed members in 1999 and 58% believed that growing GM crops could adversely affect land values.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

Last modified: Jul 2008