Ministers admit GM trials are too soon for [UK] farms

Marie Woolf / Independent UK 2mar01

Ministers have admitted that the Government's decision to double the size of GM trials will not give enough time for organic farmers to protect their crops from contamination.

Organic farmers are furious that the Government has ignored requests to leave a protective buffer zone between the GM tests sites and their properties to safeguard the purity of their produce.

They are facing huge bills to test their organic crops to discover whether they have been contaminated with GM pollen. Fifty-eight test sites for genetically modified crops were announced on Wednesday; five are within four miles of similar organic crops.

Organic farmers accused the Government of failing to give them advance warning of the location of the new GM sites, as promised. They say the decision to run trials near organic farms could prove "disastrous" for the sector which has strict standards, including a guarantee that its food is entirely GM free.

A leaked letter from the Food Safety minister shows the Government knows its testing plans do not give organic farmers enough time to protect their crops and guarantee that standards are maintained. "I accept the point ... that the timetable for trial site recruitment and selection by the Scientific Steering Committee does not allow as much time as would be desirable for such exchanges of information," the letter from Baroness Hayman to the Soil Association said.

Senior government sources say there are no plans to ensure that GM crops are planted well away from organic farms.

Tim Yeo, the Tory Agriculture spokesman, said the organic sector was "seriously at risk" from GM crop trials. "The Government's decision to support organic farmers is completely undermined by its obsession with pressing ahead with more and more GM crop trials," he said.