‘Wales could ban GM crops
9 March 2000
‘Wales could ban GM crops’
by FWi staff
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have increased the pressure on the Welsh Assembly to ban genetically modified crops.
Friends of the Earth is set to circulate legal advice which it claims shows that GM crops could be banned without risking a successful legal challenge.
The allegation conflicts with legal advice to Welsh agriculture secretary Christine Gwyther, who fears such a general policy could be challenged in court.
Michael Fordham, FoE barrister, said Wales could adopt a general policy of banning GM crops if it was thought they could harm health or the environment.
The Welsh Assembly Agriculture Committee will consider whether to urge Ms Gwyther to veto approval of GM maize at the end of March.
If Wales bans GM crops, the risk of cross-pollination across its border could see the seed banned across the UK, regardless of what other ministers decide.
The issue arose after an industry application to the European Commission for three varieties of GM maize to be put on the EU common seed catalogue.
Anti-GM campaigners warn that adding GM varieties to the National Seed List could give the green light for GM seed to be grown commercially in Britain.
However, the government rejects this, insisting that GM crops could not be grown commercially in the UK before 2003, when farm-scale trials end.
It says a decision on the EU Common Catalogue is matter for the Commission, and not the UK government.