Bio-industry Should Pay for Damage 

JENNIFER MACKINZIE / The Journal (UK) 4mar04

A report due to be published tomorrow is expected to recommend that the biotech industry should be liable for environmental harm caused by GM crops.

The Environmental Audit Committee's report on GM crops is also reported to include recommendations that new crop trials are commissioned.

Under existing law, it is clear that a non-GM farmer who loses markets and income because of GM contamination of their crop would not be able to sue anyone to recover the loss.

Farmers could find themselves being sued by food companies or supermarkets which have to withdraw food because it is found to contain GM contamination.

No insurance company is prepared to insure against GM contamination.

Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesman Andrew George MP said: "If these reports are true, the Government will have to realise that its policy on GM crops has finally been blown out of the water by common sense and genuine scientific doubts.

"It would be foolish to decide to grow GM maize in the UK following such strong cross-party criticism of the science on which the decision would be based.

"New independent trials and further public consultation will need to be commissioned immediately.

"The issue of liability must also be resolved and should rest solely on the GM industry, rather than farmers or the taxpayer.

"It was already clear that two of the three crops trialled would harm the environment, but the use of a pesticide - atrazine - in the maize trials, in which the biotech companies were heavily involved, has made them invalid.

"Evidence from North America shows that, in the longer term, GM crops need more pesticides rather than less, so any new trials must be four years or more if they are to be taken seriously.

"In the past the Government has desperately sought to compile evidence to back up its case but the facts remain the same. Growing GM crops in Britain won't help the developing world, we could leave future generations with an unwelcome legacy and, above all, people simply don't want the stuff."

Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said: "We have always said that the GM companies should be held responsible for any economic losses suffered by non-GM farmers and we welcome this proposal.

"However, the new laws must be in place before the government considers any applications to grow GM crops in the UK, including GM maize. Otherwise, the government shows it may be willing to risk damaging the vast majority of farmers, to placate the GM companies."

The Soil Association, the UK's main certifier and promoter of organic food and farming, has consistently argued that a clear law of liability is needed to protect all non-GM farmers and to avoid the economic losses farmers have suffered in the US and Canada as a result of GM contamination.

It says that making GM consent holders liable would avoid pitting GM and non-GM farmers against each other. It also means that the specific source of GM contamination would not have to be identified - this would be difficult as GMOs could come from any number of farms in a region, or from contaminated seed or farm machinery, or from many other sources.

It would only be necessary to identify the GM variety, which could be easily traced back to the consent holder.

Currently, unless the precise source of contamination can be conclusively proved, legal action cannot even start.

Some other EU countries are already taking steps to set up GM liability and compensation schemes.

In Denmark, the Government will help with a compensation fund - an option ruled out here by the Cabinet's GM Committee.

All experts, including the Government's own Science Review Panel, consider the contamination of non-GM crops to be inevitable if GM crops are widely grown.

Economic damage from GMOs is not covered by the forthcoming EU Directive on environmental liability.

source: http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0400business/northernfarming/content_objectid=14013907_method=full_siteid=50081_headline=-Bio-industry--should-pay-for-damage--name_page.html 4mar04