Archived press release

Government's GM advisor calls for new contamination and liability laws

25 November 2003

New laws must be introduced if GM crops are ever allowed to be commercially grown in the UK, the Government's main GM policy advisor said today. This should include measures to prevent contamination from GM crops and rules to enable farmers to claim compensation if it occurs. Friends of the Earth has broadly welcomed the report, but insists that biotech companies must be strictly liable for any harm caused.

Today's report by the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC) also calls for changes to the Environmental Protection Act so that the costs of cleaning up environmental damage caused by GM crops would be charged to biotech companies, even if the law has not been broken.

The main recommendations in the AEBC report include:

• Coexistence should be governed by legally binding protocols to meet contamination thresholds

• GM commercial crops should be subject to a probationary period of limited growing to test how effective the coexistence rules will be

• GM approvals could be suspended if coexistence rules break down and consumer choice is compromised

• Farmers suffering contamination above the statutory threshold (0.9 %) should automatically be compensated

• Compensation from industry for environmental remediation costs should be available to regulators irrespective of criminal liability

• Costs for remediation of diffuse impacts of GM (from an unidentifiable source) could be chargeable to biotech companies

Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner Pete Riley, said

"The Government must not make the mistake of ignoring scientific evidence and over-whelming public opinion and give the go-ahead to the commercial growing of GM crops. But if it caves in to GM industry pressure it must ensure that tough legislation is in place to allow farmers and the public to grow and eat GM-free food".

"We are pleased that the Government's GM advisor has rejected industry calls for a voluntary approach to controlling GM crops and recognises that new laws would be needed to regulate coexistence and liability. If GM crops are ever commercially grown in the UK, the biotech industry must be forced to prevent GM contamination or environmental damage, and be financially liable if they fail. The AEBC's recommendations set out a framework to make this happen."

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust