Archived press release

Shropshire goes gm-free

18 July 2003

Shropshire today became the latest county council to vote to go GM-free. The move, on the last day of the official GM public debate, was warmly welcomed by Friends of the Earth, who launched its GM-free Britain campaign last year [1].

Support was overwhelming with the council voting 35-2 for a GM-free Shropshire [2]. Measures voted through include applying to prevent GM crops from being grown in Shropshire using a European law [3], and steps to prevent GM crops on council-controlled land. Shropshire County Council had carried out its own survey to gather the views of people living in the area which found that a massive 94% were against commercially growing GM crops. It had also consulted with tenant farmers to help inform its decision. The Government will not confirm exactly how the outcome of the public debate, due to report in September, will feed in to the decision on whether to grow GM crops in the UK.

Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner Clare Oxborrow said:

"This is fantastic news. Shropshire council has made a huge effort to listen to people in its area and has responded to their concerns by voting to go GM-free. As the official GM public debate ends, this move sends a clear message to the Government that people in Shropshire don't want their food, farming and environment threatened by GM pollution. The Government must now promise to listen to the outcome of the public debate and refuse to allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK"

Shropshire joins a number of local councils calling for GM-free areas [3]. The Government is expected to decide whether or not to allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK later this year.

Notes

[1] www.gmfreebritain.com

[2] The council passed the recommendations of its Sustainability Policy Commission which stated:

a) In accordance with the final analysis of the results of the public consultation, the Commission recommends that the Council declares itself against the commercialisation of GM crops and continues to support the GM Free Shropshire campaign.

b) Council should press Government to wait until the outcome of the three studies which are currently underway, namely the national public debate, the outcome of the Farm Scale Evaluations and the economic study, prior to making a decision regarding the commercialisation of GM crops.

In addition, the Council should write to DEFRA and the European Commission requesting that conditions under Article 19 9(3)(c) should be added to each marketing consent so as to protect the County of Shropshire from the commercialisation of GM crops.

c) Council supports a society whereby the consumer has the freedom of choice as to whether or not they wish to purchase foods containing even a negligible amount of GM ingredients. The Commission therefore recommends:

Supports the mandatory labelling of animal feed and food products containing material derived from GM crops

The specific labelling within the ingredient list for prepacked foods should be accompanied by the use of a GM logo.

The GM logo should be readily recognisable and used at all points of retail sale and for foods sold at catering establishments and restaurants.

Mandatory labelling should extend to products such as eggs, meat fish and milk derived from animals fed on GM feed.

d) Council should press the threshold level for adventitious of seeds and foodstuffs to be set at zero which in practice means no GMOs being detectable given the current and improving nature of detection.

e) Council should press Government to put into place appropriate compensation mechanisms for those farmers, growers and bee keepers adversely affected by the commercial growing of GM crops, should commercialisation be approved.

f) Council should note that the results of the smallholdings tenant consultation broadly supported the inclusion of a GM free stipulation within new agricultural tenancy agreements.

[3] Councils can request legal protection of their areas from particular GM crops using Article 19 of the Deliberate Release Directive 2001/19/EC. For more explanation see briefing on GM-Free local areas: www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gmfree_local_areas.pdf (PDF†)

[4] See the maps on www.gmfreebritain.com

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust