Archived press release

Dig them up! GM farmers urged to remove illegal crops

15 December 1999

Friends of the Earth has written to 20 farmers in England and Scotland informing them that genetically modified winter oilseed they are growing at 24 sites - including three farm scale trials - are not covered by a legal consent, and should therefore be dug up [1]. A map(attached) showing the locations of the illegal sites is published by FOE for the first time today.

The letters follow a recent court order from the High Court confirming that Government permission allowing the crops to be planted was illegal. The order, resulting from a successful legal challenge by FOE, was not contested by the Government [2].
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In the letter farmers are told that “FOE...believes that these GM winter rape crops should not be in the ground and should not remain there. We respectfully urge you, as strongly as we can, to consider destroying them.” The letter also suggests “that you might think it appropriate to seek your own legal advice rather than taking advice directly from AgrEvo or the Government, who have their own interests to protect”. FOE has also written to Environment Minister Michael Meacher asking him to order the crops' destruction [3].

Liana Stupples, Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth, said:
“The High Court has confirmed that permission to plant these winter GM oilseed rape crops was unlawful. To allow them to stay in the ground would simply bring the law into disrepute. Our letter to these farmers notifies them of the situation and urges them to consider destroying these crops. Public confidence in GM crops is already at an all time low - allowing these crops to continue to grow will only let it sink even lower.

“The Government must also act to end this farcical situation. How many more times will it allow the law to be bent to suit the biotech industry?”

Friends of the Earth is still discussing further legal steps with its lawyers.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Twenty four sites of winter oilseed rape have been planted under release consent 98/R19/18 extending from Hampshire to Aberdeenshire. These include three farm scale trials, 11 National List Trials (for Seed Listing) and 10 AgrEvo research and development sites.

[2] In August this year Friends of the Earth went to court asking for a Judicial Review of the Government's decision to vary a GMO release consent issued to the biotech company AgrEvo. The following month (September 17) the Government and AgrEvo conceded that the variation was unlawful and agreed not to contest FOE's case in cofurt. On 24 November the High Court formally ruled that the consent for the variation to AgrEvo's original consent was “unlawful” and “in contravention” of EU regulations and ordered it to be quashed[4].

This is the third time that the Government has been found to be acting illegally over GM crops following a court challenge involving Friends of the Earth.

In July 1998, Court of Appeal ruled the Government had been operating the Seed Regulations illegally. As a result, GM seeds were able to avoid two years of seed testing thus accelerating their commercial approval.

In March 1999, the Provisional Seed Certification Scheme, which enabled GM seeds to be fast tracked onto the market by up to two years, was conceded to be unlawful by the Government following an application for Judicial Review by FOE, Norman Baker MP. Alan Simpson MP and John Randall MP.

[3] In its letter to Michael Meacher, FOE urges Mr Meacher to exercise his powers to order the three farm scale trials and other sites (see attached map) to be destroyed “as soon as possible” because planting had gone ahead “cynically”, and in the full knowledge that the decision to vary the consent would be challenged in court. The variation allowed for a four fold increase in the area under GM oilseed and extended it to cover winter as well as spring oilseed. The absence of a legal consent means that legal conditions which applied to the consent are no longer valid.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust