Farmers set to face
Farmers set to face
anti-GM activists
By Isabel Davies
FARMERS involved in the governments farm-scale trials of genetically modified crops are steeling themselves against potential attacks on fields from anti-GM crop activists.
The more militant environment groups are keeping quiet about plans to rip up crops but admit direct action is likely. Last year protesters damaged three of the field scale trials of GM crops and numerous smaller test plots.
GM campaigners have certainly been dismayed by the news that scientists overseeing the trial have confirmed they have enough suitable sites to give the go-ahead to the trials.
The Scientific Steering Committee advised ministers last Friday that sufficient sites had been found to allow the trial to proceed.
Sarah North, GM campaigner for Greenpeace said the campaign against the trials would continue with Greenpeace encouraging intense local campaigning.
The scale of the trial had increased and so would the number of objections, she said. And direct action was very probable even if Greenpeace was not involved.
Greenpeaces executive director Peter Melchett already faces criminal damages charges for attacking a crop in Norfolk last summer. He is due to appear in court in early April.
A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said the organisations members had never destroyed GM crops and nor would they. But FoE was urging farmers who had volunteered for the trials to think again.
The question of who is liable for damage from GM crops had still to be answered, he said.
"Farmers cant get insurance against GM contamination so they may be forced to take legal action against farmers growing GM crops. It may well be lawyers rather than farmers that profit from GM crops."
As FW went to press Michael Meacher had yet to announce the exact number and location of the sites. But it is believed that the final number is somewhere between 50-60.
The government had originally been looking to pick around 75 sites but it is believed that scientists have had to settle for less.
Meanwhile, the group set up to argue the case for GM technology, CropGen, has accused environmental campaigners of condemning Britain to a chemical future.
"GM crops can help reduce British agricultures over-dependence on chemical herbicides and pesticides," said Dr Guy Poppy, a member of the CropGen panel.
"If we are not allowed to develop alternative agricultural practices, the effect on wildlife and the environment could be devastating." *