Meacher: GM pollen cant be stopped
14 June 2000
Meacher: GM pollen can’t be stopped
ENVIRONMENT minister Michael Meacher has admitted that it is impossible to stop pollen from genetically modified crops contaminating conventional varieties.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Meacher told MPs contamination could occur, whatever the distance between GM trial sites and conventional crops.
Mr Meacher said: “It is false to pretend that there is any distance which is going to prevent some contamination.
“The question is how we can absolutely minimise that to a level which is acceptable to those buying the product.
The disclosure brought fresh calls for GM trials to be scrapped, and criticism of the government.
Michael Meacher is finally admitting that contamination is a major threat to the whole food chain if commercialisation of GM crops goes ahead, Soil Association director Patrick Holden, told the Daily Mail.
This demonstrates that we should simply not have open-air testing of GM crops.
Pete Riley, real food campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Friends of the Earth has long argued that GM pollen spreads further than the biotech industry will admit.
“At last a government minister agrees with us. What we need now is action to prevent the current farm-scale trials and test sites contaminating crops and honey.
“Mr Meacher has let a large yowling cat out of the bag.
Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo told the BBC: This makes a mockery of all of the governments previous assurances that the environment would be protected. “They have finally admitted that the farm-scale trials are a potential danger to the environment.
He accused the government of covering up the extent of contamination, and called for it to be fully open on the issue.
He added: “They have completely lost control of this issue and fail to see how important it is to the British consumer.”
Existing rules mean that GM oilseed rape may be grown within 200m of organic crops of the same species, and 50m from conventional varieties.
GM sugar beet may be grown 600m from organic beet and 6m from conventional varieties
The Soil Association says studies have shown that oilseed rape pollen can travel up to 4km (2.4 miles).
Pollen from other crops, such as sugar beet and maize, can travel 800m, it adds.
The Soil Association calls for a six-mile (9.6km) notification zone around all future trial plots.
The government-approved rules were devised by the Supply Chain Initiative on Genetically Modified Agricultural Crops (SCIMAC) which backs GM crops.
It argues that the guidelines are based upon internationally recognised distances used in the UK for 35 years without problems.