Conventional trial crop is GM
20 June 2000
‘Conventional’ trial crop is GM
By FWi staff
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have called for a genetically modified crop trial to be scrapped after it emerged that conventional crops sown for comparison contained GM seed.
The oilseed rape “control” group drilled at Daviot, Aberdeenshire, has been found to have been planted with contaminated material from seed company Advanta.
The control group is used by scientists to provide a comparison with data obtained from GM varieties on the same site.
Advanta hit he headlines when it emerged that hundreds of farmers unwittingly planted GM-contaminated oilseed rape seed it supplied.
The Scottish Executive said the latest discovery would have no impact on the final result of the trial and there was no threat to human health, reports BBC Online
But Greenpeace says this revelation has pushed the trial into the realms of farce as researchers will be reduced to comparing GM against GM.
“This would be comical if it was not so significant,” Greenpeace GM campaigner Sarah North told FWi.
“First they allowed GM contaminated seed into the UK, then accidentally plant it in one of the farm-scale trial sites, and now must compare one GM crop against another.
“If the government wants to maintain any credibility it should declare this test site void immediately.”
Mr Finnie said: “I am satisfied that the validity of the trial has not been compromised and our scientific advisers have confirmed there are no implications for the safety of the surrounding environment.”
He stressed the trial oilseed rape would be destroyed upon completion of the research and would not enter the human or animal food chain.
The farmer conducting the Aberdeenshire trial said the revelations would not change her plans.
Shirley Harrison told the BBC that the level of contamination was so small it would have no impact on the final results.
The executive discovered the control plot was contaminated while investigating where the Advanta seed had been planted.