We don't want your GM crops

Joe Taylor Dorset Echo (UK) 28mar01

ANXIOUS parents packed a meeting to demand a halt to genetically modified crop trials close to two Weymouth schools.

Many people were forced to stand or sit on the floor at the meeting at St Francis of Assisi Church, Littlemoor.

They heard two reports from experts about possible risks posed to health and the environment by GM crop trials.

Dad Peter Broatch said he might join other parents in keeping his four-year-old son Kester away from St Andrews School, in Preston, if the trials near the school and Westfield Technology College went ahead.

He said: "I'm concerned that the trials are going ahead so close to the schools. The health of my son is of primary concern - I will consider keeping him from school if the trials happen."

Preston ward councillor Brian Ellis, who was at the meeting, said: "I think the way these tests have been kept from the public is abysmal. There has been a cloak of secrecy around them.

"I fully support what Friends of the Earth are doing in trying to make the public aware of the issues involved."

The Rev Tim West, chairman of the governors at St Andrews, said: "I would like to see monitoring on the school playground. I think that is a sensible thing to ask for, so we can check to see if there is any contamination."

Farmer Charles Foot, who owns the land where the trials are due to take place, did not attend.

The meeting, organised by anti-GM campaigner Helen Ellery, was introduced by South Dorset Friends of the Earth chairman Matt Pullman.

Mr Pullman said: "The purpose of this meeting is to try and offer a bit more information and explain our concerns. We hope to persuade the farmer to pull out of the trials."

People were also urged to sign a petition, asking Mr Foot to think again.

However, Ms Ellery said this was not because of any danger from the herbicide glufosinate, which will be used to spray the crops.

She said: "We are not concerned about the herbicide, not particularly. The herbicide has been around for years. We are concerned about genetic modification."

The first speaker, genetics expert Dr Ricarda Steinbecher, outlined some of the scientific processes involved in GM crop trials.

She said that even though GM trials have been given the all clear by the government, there was still a good deal scientists did not know.

"Ten years after commercialisation of GM crops, there were still problems with the tests," she said.

Dr Steinbecher said she believed the best way forward was to delay GM trials for five years, when more scientific research had been done.

At the end of her talk, a woman in the audience asked: "What are your views on the crops being near the school?"

Dr Steinbecher replied: "It's not a wise choice. I would not have chosen the school as a site." The second speaker, chartered surveyor Mark Griffths, said that the corporations who conduct the trials are not giving farmers the full picture.

Mr Griffiths, who specialises in land management, said: "A study in America found that conventional hybrids are more productive than GM crops.

"Farmers in America have discovered that this technology is an absolute economic liability."

Coun Ellis promised to get fully behind the protest. He said: "I will contact the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and invite them to send a representative down for the meeting on 17 April. We need to know the facts from both sides of this argument."

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman Andy Canning said today: "The evidence against going ahead with GM crop trials near Littlemoor is both compelling and overwhelming.

"The Liberal Democrats are backing the call for a five year moratorium on the growing of GM crops so that more research can take place."

A spokesman from the DETR said today: "All of the crops involved in these trials have already undergone years of tests both in the laboratory and on carefully controlled small-scale research sites.

"The purpose of the trials is to study the effect, if any, on farmland wildlife that might be caused by the use of weed-killers associated with herbicide tolerant GM crops.

"The Government adopts a precautionary approach to looking at this new GM technology, and we will continue to ensure that it is properly monitored and controlled. In Europe and the United Kingdom there are strict regulations controlling the deliberate release and marketing of genetically modified organisms. Developments are carried out in containment and only released into the environment if they are assessed as safe."

source: http://www.thisisdorset.net/dorset/weymouth/news/WEYMOUTH_NEWS_NEWS0.html