GM blockage untrue – MAFF
GM blockage untrue – MAFF
CAMPAIGNERS opposed to genetically modified crops are locked in a row with officials over claims that the government has blocked the first commercial planting in Britain.
Friends of the Earth says it has been told by a MAFF civil servant that ministers are delaying a decision to approve the commercial release of herbicide-tolerant GM oilseed rape in Britain.
But MAFF and the Department of the Environment insist that is untrue. "Our ministers have not put a block on anything," said a MAFF spokeswoman.
The row was sparked by an application by Belgian-based company Plant Genetic Systems to the French government for consent to plant commercial field trials.
MAFF says that to be licensed in the UK, GM rape must first be included on the National Seed List. And it cannot be placed on the UK National List until it has received the go-ahead in France.
The DoE also says France must approve the field trials before any further developments can take place in Britain or any other EU member state.
But Friends of the Earth denies that. A spokesman said farm ministers, worried about the political and environmental impact of GM crops, had found a way to delay their introduction by hiding behind the French. "When we say they (ministers) have decided to delay it is absolutely true." *