Archived press release

Government reviews GM crop seperation distances

8 June 2000

Friends of the Earth is calling for the current round of GM Farm Scale trials to be abandoned following the Government's decision to review the separation distances between GM and non-GM crops. Letters about the review - which is due to be completed by 1 August - are due to be sent out by MAFF today.

Recent events have raised serious concerns about the adequacy of separation distances around the GM farm scale trials which are as little as 50 metres :

• During the recent fiasco over the accidental planting of GM contaminated oil seed rape, it was claimed that the contamination in Canada came from a GM crop at least 800 metres away (the legal minimum distance in Canada). Earlier this month the Government admitted that GM contaminated crops could not be legally sold within the UK as they do not have a marketing consent.
• Last month FOE revealed that it had purchased honey near a GM trial site that contained GM pollen. Beekeepers are now having to move their hives at least 6 miles away from GM sites to protect their honey.
• Last year FOE research found airborne GM pollen 475 metres from a GM trial site.

Adrian Bebb, Real Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
“This long-overdue review of separation distances between GM and non-GM shows that even the Government now believes that the current guidelines are inadequate. The Government must now act to protect the livelihoods of farmers and beekeepers neighbouring GM crops by abandoning the farm scale trials before they reach flowering. Failure to act is unacceptable - the biotech industry has been gambling with the countryside for far too long.”mg

In a separate development, parishioners near a farm scale trial near Wivenhoe in Essex voted overwhelmingly against the GM trial continuing. 88 per cent voted against the trial with a 38 per cent turnout.

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