Archived press release

New Set Back for GM Crops

26 July 2005

The German biotech giant Bayer has withdrawn its applications to grow genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape in the EU, Friends of the Earth revealed today. The move comes as public calls for GM-free zones spread across Europe and follows a series of research findings which have uncovered environmental damage resulting from the GM crop being grown.

Bayer is the only biotech company to have applied for permission to grow GM oilseed rape commercially in Europe, but it was revealed late yesterday that their application had been withdrawn [1].

Earlier this year, results from the world's biggest environmental trials confirmed that growing GM oilseed rape, which has been modified to make it resistant to a weed killer, reduced the level of wildlife in the field [2]. New research by the UK Government, revealed yesterday, showed that the GM crop had also crossed with wild plants to produce a herbicide-resistant `superweed' in the UK [3].

While pressure to grow and import GM crops in Europe has grown, so has resistance from local authorities and the public. There are now GM-free initiatives in virtually every European country; and 164 European regions have declared themselves GM free or want to restrict commercial growing of GM crops [4]. Last month European countries voted to allow France and Greece to maintain their national bans on the import and cultivation of GM oilseed rape [5].

Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner Clare Oxborrow said:

"Finally Bayer has faced up to reality. People do not need and do not want these GM crops. Their genetically modified oilseed rape would be a disaster for farmers and wildlife. The UK Government must do more to support sustainable farming, producing food that people want to eat, and abandon GM technology, once and for all".

Notes

[1] Bayer's about turn on GM oilseed rape was revealed in correspondence from the UK Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and confirmed by the German authorities handling the applications. Received in an email from DEFRA, 25 July 2005. "On our Defra web site we say that these applications are pending transfer from a 90/220 and 2001/18 application to a 1829/2003 food and feed application. Our understanding is that the applications have actually been withdrawn by Bayer."

[2] GM crop trial blow to biotech industry (March 2005)

[3] Government Study Finds UK's First GM 'Superweed'

[4] www.gmofree-europe.org

[5] www.foeeurope.org/press/2005/AB_24_June_vote.htm

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust