Archived press release

Who pays for GM damage? key campaign opens on liability

30 June 1999

A campaign begins today to make the producers of GM food and crops liable for any health or environmental damage they may cause. Alan Simpson MP (Labour: Nottingham South)will be launching the campaign, to be run jointly with Friends of the Earth, in a Commons Adjournment Debate.

Last month a “Genetically Modified Food and Producer Liability Bill”, drafted with help from Friends of the Earth, was presented to Parliament by Alan Simpson MP (Labour:Nottingham South). The Bill would make it clear that biotech companies, their directors and managers will be liable for any health or environmental damage their products may cause,unless they can show that they did all in their power to prevent it.

FOE has warned that the absence of clear legislation on liability could lead to a “riot of legal claims” as consumers, farmers, retailers and GM companies fight out the issue in the courts. Leading insurance companies and liability lawyers are already concerned that GM companies and others could find it hard to obtain adequate cover against any claim for damages.

FOE has demanded that current GM trials should be abandoned and that no consent for release or marketing of GM food or crops should be granted until clear legislation on liability is in place. European Union environment ministers failed to resolve the liability issue during last week's discussions on a revision of the EU Directive on the deliberate release of GMOs. FOE has called on the Government to support the principles of Mr Simpson's Bill and to give it adequate Parliamentary time.

Commenting, FOE Food Campaigner Pete Riley said:
“Alan Simpson has done us all a favour by putting the liability issue on the political agenda. No-one knows who will pay the bill for any environmental or health damage that GM food and crops may cause. European environment ministers didn't manage to sort the issue out last week. We could see a riot of legal claims, and a paradise for liability lawyers, if the courts have to sort matters out after the damage has been done. This is yet another powerful argument for a moratorium on GM food and crops. Getting the law right is just as important as doing the science. So far, we haven't managed either.”

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust