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New pollen research casts further doubt on GM trials
14 April 1999
New research by British botanists - to be published later this week in the New Scientist -shows that pollen blown from large fields of genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape remains fertile over greater distances than expected. Even at sites 400 metres away from transgenic(GM) plots, as many as 7 per cent of the seeds (from non-GM oilseed rape plants) were herbicide resistant.
Earlier today, scientists from the Scottish Crop Research Institute [1] in Dundee, told a conference at the University of Keele that oilseed rape pollen had been found 4 km from the nearest source - further that it had been previously discovered. The research says that"bees may be important pollen vectors over a range of distances" and concludes that "the results suggest that farm-to-farm spread of OSR [oilseed rape] transgenes will be widespread."
The results are at odds with safety measures currently demanded by the Government for GM crop trials. They also highlight one of FOE's concerns with the farm-scale trials programme of GM crops which only operates a 50 metre 'buffer' zone.
Adrian Bebb, Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"This research throws current thinking out of the window. It confirms that pollen from these mutant crops will be a problem for most farmers and will spread in the countryside quicker then previously thought. The time has come for the Government to act. We need an immediate 5 year freeze to put a stop to this dangerous experiment on our countryside."
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
